Crossover: Another World
by AriaRose7
Summary: To protect their daughter from an evil curse, the king and queen of Galatia have their daughter sent to the modern world. 16 years later, Aria goes about her normal life with no clue of who she really is until strange things begin to happen to her.
1. Prologue

Prologue

Everyone in the kingdom of Galatia eagerly gathered to celebrate the birth of Princess Aria, the first born child of King Richard and Queen Gretel. The king and queen have prayed for many years to be blessed with either a healthy prince or a princess and now their wishes have finally been fulfilled. This meant the most grand festival the kingdom has ever seen.

King Richard and Queen Gretel made sure to invite everyone including the elves, the giants, the dwarfs, and the fairies, especially the fairies for they always presented the best gifts for newborn royalty one could possibly conceive of. Queen Gretel personally made the invitations for the fairies and made sure that they receive a special greeting upon arrival. All the fairies were invited, except for one, Myrtle. This particular fairy was known for giving ghastly and sometimes even deadly gifts. However, she was not always that way. Her gifts use to be splendid, the best a child could wish for, but many years ago, Myrtle mysteriously disappeared and returned a changed fairy.

Fearing for their newborn daughter's safety, the king and queen decided it was best not to invite Myrtle and hoped that she would have no way of discovering the princess's birth. Myrtle lived by herself in a dark tower and rarely made contact with the other fairies so it appeared unlikely the news would even reach her dangerous ears.

xXx

Adora felt so nervous she could barely feel her legs as she glided behind the other fairies. This will be the first time she has ever attended a royal newborn's birthday party. She was expected to present this special child with an extraordinary gift. She knew these feelings were completely ludicrous for she is a fairy who possesses magic powers and could give this child anything she pleased. Unfortunately for Adora, that only put a heavier burden on her. At this moment, it seemed as though she were dragging a sack of bricks along behind her. She was worried her gift would not be as good as the other fairies's since they were more experienced and attended more of these celebrations in the past.

Adora fidgeted her fingers as she gazed ahead anxiously at Verna, the head fairy, who just halted, turning around for discussion. She always seemed to have the most serious expression upon her face. Adora could not recall ever seeing Verna smile, not once.

"Have you all thought of your gifts to Princess Aria?" demanded Verna, her chin pointed up, sternly.

Freya, flipping her ringlets of blond hair behind her shoulders, eagerly responded first. "I'm going to give her the gift of beauty, particularly her hair. I want her to be blessed with long golden hair. Oh, and I want her skin to be always fair as well and her lips to be rose red. With that, she will be the most beautiful girl in the kingdom in which any prince will be lucky to wed!"

Verna nodded with approval. "Very good, Freya. And what of the rest of you?"

"I will present her with the gift of music so it brings her joy even when she feels down," answered Thelma, more humbly than Freya.

Verna responded, "Just remember, Thelma, to make this gift assist her in finding a prince. That way it will be suitable."

"Okay, then." Themla gazed down, pondering. "Anyone who hears her playing music will be drawn to it's beautiful tone and with this gift she will be able to impress any prince she desires."

As Verna approved this Adora sighed. All the gifts seemed to focus more on attracting some prince and less on princess herself. Every kingdom in Galatia had either a princess or a prince or both who were destined to be together and would eventually meet, get married and live happily ever after. Sure, every now and then, a princess may eat a poison apple or get locked in a tower with only her long golden hair as a way out but she would eventually get rescued by her prince and live happily ever after. It was all just so predictable. Adora wondered if things would ever change around here.

"Adora! Pay attention." Verna demanded impatiently. "What gift do you plan on bestowing upon the newborn princess?"

"Umm…" Adora hesitated, now fidgeting her sweating hands even more rapidly. "I was thinking, um… maybe intelligence."

"Intelligence!" laughed Verna, though Adora still did not see a smile. "What use does a princess have for intelligence? Most princes only care about beauty and some prefer their princesses to be able to play music but none of them care how smart she is."

"I'm sorry, but I thought that these gifts were for the princess, not some prince she may meet one day," snapped Adora before she realized her tone. Verna looked at her sharply with piercing eyes so she spoke more calmly. "It's not as if she will be with her prince every moment of the day, especially if he becomes king and has to run the kingdom. Maybe the princess would enjoy reading or exploring during her spare time."

"If you are concerned about Princess Aria's free time then give her the gift of sewing or needlepoint. Something appropriate for a princess, or any lady for that matter," replied Verna, as she turned back around, beckoning the others to follow.

"Fine. Sewing it is," Adora muttered in agreement, as they began to head forward.

She secretly planned to give her intelligence anyway. What harm could possibly come of this? Verna would not dare lash out at her during the celebration in front of the king and queen. Adora would just have to face the consequences when they returned back to the fairies' lair.

When the four fairies arrived at the kingdom gates, they were welcomed with blatant golden trumpets and shimmering fireworks. Everyone within was applauding as loud as they could. All the fairies kept their chins up and proceeded straight ahead to the castle, except Adora who lingered slightly behind admiring all the decorations. All the various colors and lights seemed blinding to her. Adora began to feel slightly disoriented.

As the entered the palace King Richard stood up from his throne. "Welcome Verna, Freya, Thelma! Ah, and I see we have a forth fairy now. Come child, what is your name?"

"Adora," she spoke shyly with difficulty meeting the king's eyes. "I, uh, just finished training to use my magic so this will be my first time giving a magical gift."

"Wonderful!" King Richard beamed. "Just in time for my daughter's birthday celebration. I hope you all have something lovely to give her!"

"We sure do," Verna replied, proudly. "Allow me to give her my gift first, if that is as Your Majesty wishes, and then each of my sisters will bestow theirs."

King Richard glanced at his wife and then nodded. "Proceed."

Verna floated up to princess's cradle and lifted her hands over the infant's head. "I give to you, Princess Aria, the gift of poise. Good posture will always be natural for you as it should be for all royalty."

Adora rolled her eyes. Only Verna would come up with the most appropriate, yet dull, gift imaginable. Queen Gretel, on the other hand, seemed quite impressed. She beamed as Verna bowed down to Princess Aria and her parents before rejoining the other fairies.

Thelma went next. "Princess Aria, I give you the gift of music. May this gift bring you peace and joy at all times, especially when you are feeling down."

As Verna cleared her throat at Thelma, she quickly added, "And may it charm any man who's ears it falls upon."

Once again, Adora's eyes rolled. That last part seemed so unnecessary.

After that it was Freya's turn. "Princess Aria, from me you will have the gift of beauty. Let her hair grow long and luscious never to change, her skin will always be fair, and her lips will be deep red as a rose. With this gift any prince will instantly fall head over heels in love with her."

The king and queen smiled and thanked her her while everyone in the courtroom clapped their hands together, softly. Adora then inhaled a deep breath and gradually went up to give the princess her gift. Verna looked at her with stone cold eyes, but Adora's mind was made up. Princess Aria should have something for herself, not some prince.

"Princess Aria, my gift to you is…"

Suddenly there was a loud bang as the castle doors bursts wide open, all the candle lights went out, and a tall faired skinned woman dressed in black robes with long dark hair entered the palace, her golden eyes glowing in flames. A chilled feeling seem to spread throughout the thrown room.

"Why was not invited to this grand celebration for the newborn princess?" Myrtle demanded, smiling slyly in pretentious disappointment. "I must say, I am quite hurt by your rejection. I was indeed looking forward to meeting the lovely Princess Aria. I always enjoy a good party, but it seems I am never invited to one."

Nobody, not even the king and queen dared to meet this fairy's deadly eyes.

Finally after a few, long, awkward moments the King Richard spoke. "Well, Myrtle, we, um, were not sure if you, um…" he tried desperately to think of some excuse but nothing came to him.

"Did you assume that I would not want to come celebrate the birth of this beautiful princess? Did you not think that I, too, would have something wonderful to offer to her?" Myrtle gave an evil grin and started to move towards Princess Aria.

Adora remained by the cradle, deciding that it was best to hold her ground. Unfortunately for her, Myrtle was much more powerful and was easily able to use her magic to get her out of the way.

"Princess Aria, I see you have been given beauty, music, and poise," Myrtle snickered, stroking the infant's forehead with her long, bony fingers. "Fortunately for me, these foolish fairies did not bother to give you and long and healthy life." She shot the fairies a brief sneering glance. "You made this way too easy for me." She then turned her head back down to the princess. "I hear by declare, that on the day of Aria's sixteenth birthday she will prick her on a spinning wheel and die. Don't even bother destroying of all the spinning wheels. When the time comes I will personally ensure that the princess is near a spinning wheel and she will indeed prick her finger and then meet her doom."

The whole courtroom gasped clasping their hands over their mouth in horror. Queen Gretel burst into a flood of tears and threw herself into her husband's arms as he tried to console her. Myrtle satisfied with everyone's reactions left the castle abruptly, the doors slamming shut behind her.

"What are we going to do?" sobbed the queen. "I cannot bear the fact that my own daughter will die when she is just sixteen!"

Adora looked up at the distressed parents of this poor infant child. "I still have not given my gift to the princess."

The king looked down at her, his eyes suddenly hopeful. "Please, dear child, is there any way you can take away this curse so that my daughter can live."

"I'm afraid that I am unable to completely undo Myrtle's magic for she is far more powerful than I, but I am able to adjust it." Adora gained more confidence and looked down at the child. "Princess Aria, you will prick your finger on a spinning wheel on your sixteenth birthday. That part I am unable to change. However, you will not die. Instead you will fall into a deep sleep. Only from true love's kiss, will you awaken." Adora looked up at the king and queen with a half smile. "I am sorry, but I'm afraid that is the best I can do for your daughter."

"Thank you, Adora for doing what you could," Verna said proudly. This was the first time Verna seemed truly pleased with something Adora had done and the closest she came to an actual smile. She looked up at the king and queen. "Unfortunately, Myrtle will still come for the princess when she turns sixteen. If you wish for more assurance on preventing this curse it is best that we take her to a place where Myrtle cannot find her until we find a way to permanently put an end to her evil magic."

The queen looked down at Verna, still concerned. "Where can we hide our daughter that Myrtle cannot reach her?"

"I know of a place," answered Verna in a hushed tone, "but I must speak with you privately. Please follow me."

King Richard and Queen Gretel both followed Verna into a private chamber. The remaining fairies appeared bedazzled but stayed put. None of them had any idea what sort of place Verna could be talking about and why it had to be kept a secret. They also did not know if Verna wanted them to follow her or not. Verna then looked back at them.

"Adora, come with us. Freya and Thelma, stay where you are," she instructed.

Adora became even more confused. Why would Verna want her to come and not Freya or Thelma? She quickly went into the chamber and waited for Verna's instructions.

The moment Adora closed the door behind her, Verna began, "There a another world and I am the only one that knows how to access it. Not even Myrtle knows of its existence. If we take your daughter there, she will be safe from Myrtle."

"Another world?" King Richard put his hand on his head in a daze. "How do we get to this other world?"

"I'm afraid I cannot tell you. The fewer people that know of it's existence the better. If people were to start constantly traveling between worlds then it would only lead to utter chaos. Adora will be the one to take her and find her a decent him, if that is alright with you."

The king and queen looked deeply into each other's eyes before Queen Gretel turned her gaze to Adora and spoke, "Your gift saved our dear Princess Aria's life. I believe you truly care for her and therefore with all my heart trust you with her. Please, my dear, please just keep her safe. That's all I ask."

Adora bowed down, promising she will do whatever it takes to ensure the princess's safety.

xXx

Adora held Princess Aria close to her as she followed Verna to the entrance to the other world. Verna then stopped and pointed at a lake and stated, "This is the place. This lake does not appear on any maps and is very difficult to locate. This is the portal to the other world. Now, Adora listen to me carefully. You are to take the princess to the other world and find her a warm, loving family to care for her. Stay close to her, but do not tell her who she really is or show her any magic. The people in this other world do not believe in the existence of magic and for now, the princess will be safer if she does not know the truth. I will come find you when Myrtle is defeated and you will then bring the princess back to her family here in Galatia. Do you understand?"

Adora's mind spun vigorously, overwhelmed by all this information. There were so many questions she had for Verna about what life was like in the other world, but she knew there was no time so she just nodded and slowly carried Princess Aria into the lake, desperately wishing Verna would accompany her.

Traveling to the other world was probably the most odd experience Adora had ever had. She was surrounded by water, yet she remained dry and could breath just fine. She felt a sudden jerk downward as though something had grabbed and yanked on her feet. She was then thrusted straight upward. She held the child close to her chest tightly assuring her safety as closed her own eyes. When she opened them, she realized she was standing in a fountain. This must be the other world, Adora thought to herself. She carefully stepped out of the fountain and began to look around at her new surroundings. The fountain was in a dark, empty building that seemed unkept with cobwebs covering the stone walls. Adora pointed her wand to unlock the door and went outside.

Adora did not know what to make of this world. There were lit up carriages of various colors and shapes that somehow moved all by themselves without need of a horse, people wore strange mismatched clothing, and there were tall buildings everywhere. There also seemed to be people everywhere. It appeared there were more people on this one road then there were in the entire kingdom of Galatia.

Then Adora remembered her mission. She had to find a family to care for Aria. She then spotted a young man knelt down before a beautiful young woman. He took out a small velvet box and opened it. Inside this box, was a sparkling diamond ring. Adora could not hear what they were saying but she saw the woman's eyes light up as the man put the ring on her finger and they embraced each other both smiling. Adora smiled too. This must be what Verna meant about a warm loving family. Adora then prepared a letter for the family and used magic to form a basket to place the princess in. When she realized the couple was not yet married she kept the infant until they were officially wedded and moved into their own house. Months later, Adora placed the woven basket containing the princess and the letter by the doorstep, knocked on the door, and then disappeared, but intended to remain close by.


	2. Chapter 1 Dreaded First Day of School

_Chapter 1_

_Dreaded First Day of School_

"Aria!"

Aria heard her mother's voice calling her name for what seemed like at least five minutes. She knew sooner or later Elizabeth would come upstairs into her room to make sure she was awake. In her household, Aria was pretty well known for over sleeping and not hearing alarms. On weekends, she would usually sleep until at least noon, sometimes even two or three in the afternoon. It wasn't like she stayed up late or anything, she just always would sleep for a long period of time.

"Aria, are you awake?" Elizabeth inquired as she opened the door to check on her daughter. She saw Aria lying on her stomach, the covers pulled over her head.

"Come on, Aria. You need to get ready for school." Elizabeth sat down on the bed and gently patted Aria's back.

Aria, with her eyes still closed, pleaded, "Five more minutes, please?"

"Last time we did that, when I came back to wake you up you just asked for an additional five minutes. You keep that up and you will be late for school."

"Fine with me," Aria retorted, groggily. "I don't want to go anyway."

Elizabeth looked down at Aria, stroking her long golden hair, now tangled. "Don't worry. The first year in high school is always the worst. I'm sure this year will be better. Come on, sweetie, lets get up and I'll help you blush your hair."

"I don't see why I can't get it cut," Aria complained as she finally sat up to a seated position, rubbing her eyes. "I bet a lot of other girls at school are going to have brand new hairstyles and mine will look exactly the same as it did the year before."

"I've told you before, Aria. Your long hair is what makes you who you are. It's one of your special qualities."

Aria rolled her eyes. _Mothers. _As a little girl, Aria absolutely loved having long hair. It made her feel like a princess in a Disney movie or fairy tale. Now, however, her hair was just another hassle for her to deal with first thing in the morning. She and her mother would spend at least ten minutes every morning trying to get the tangles out. Plus, not one single girl she knew of at school had hair as long as hers. The most recent style is a couple inches past the shoulders with layers. Aria had been asking all summer if she could get her hair cut but her parents refused for some unknown reason.

After Aria's hair was finally tangle free, she went down stairs for breakfast. As she entered the kitchen, she saw a newspaper held up with her father's legs popping out from from underneath.

"Well, good morning, sleeping beauty," Ted smiled, lowering the paper, as his daughter entered the kitchen. "How'd you sleep?"

"Fine, though I would have liked to sleep more," Aria replied tiredly while looking in the fridge, and then grabbed some toast off the counter. "If I didn't have such long hair that took about fifteen minutes to brush everyday then I would have at least some more time for sleep.

Ted returned his eyes to the paper as he responded, "I don't think I've ever met someone who needed as much sleep as you seem to."

Aria sighed as she got out some butter for her toast. As she sat across the table from her father, a light bulb seemed to glow over her head as she thought of something.

"Hey Dad," Aria began as she gently pulled the paper down to talk to him.

Ted let out a sigh but still grinned. "I know that look. You are going to ask me for something, aren't you?"

"Well, you know my sixteenth birthday is coming up soon," Aria began, softly.

"What do you mean soon?" Ted asked. "You've still got another couple months of being fifteen."

"Less than that," Aria protested. "Its almost the end of August, and my birthday's October 7."

"So it is. Well, I'm assuming you are bringing this up now because you want something. What is it?"

Aria looked down, fidgeting her fingers, "Well, I was thinking maybe as an early birthday present, I could get a haircut, not too short but maybe some layers or something to make it look more stylish."

Before Ted had the chance to respond, Elizabeth appeared at the kitchen door, staring at her daughter in disbelief. "Aria! I tell no so you go and ask you father instead?"

"I was just wondering if it could be a birthday present," Aria defended. "If you think about it, that's really a different question, or well, at least a different way of asking it."

Elizabeth just stood, shaking her head. "Aria, you have luxurious healthy long hair. I don't see why you want to hack it all off."

"I just want a change, that's all," Aria pointed out in a grumble. "Besides, most people ask for a brand new car when turning sixteen. You're lucky all I'm asking for is a haircut." Aria paused, and then muttered, "Maybe I should try asking for a car instead."

"I'll do you one better," Ted replied, lifting the paper back up. "I'll get you a chariot with a white pony to drive it."

Aria just rolled her eyes as she finished up her breakfast.

At the sound of the doorbell, Aria rose up, finally feeling awake, and announced. "Vanessa's here. See you later!"

Vanessa Cooper had to be best thing about Sheerwood High for Aria. The two girls had been best friends since before Aria could even remember. Vanessa lived right across the street from Aria so they could see each other all the time. Every day, they would walk to school together, which was nice since they usually did not have many classes together.

Aria's parents exchanged glances with each other before Elizabeth halted her and spoke, "Aria, maybe either your father or I should start driving you girls to school this year or at least let us walk with you."

"What? Why?" Aria asked, bewildered. "We always walk to school and everything's fine. Besides I would look like a complete dork if my parents walked me to school. It would just give the other kids another reason to make fun of me."

Elizabeth sighed. "Oh, honey. You shouldn't worry about what the other kids think. Your safety is what you should be concerned about."

"You let Vanessa and me walk to school by ourselves last year and we were just fine."

"Yeah, well," Elizabeth exchanged a quick glance with Ted before continuing, "you will be turning sixteen in a couple months and, um, there are people out there who may sometimes come after young girls."

Aria just gawked at her mother, unable to come up with a response. It seemed as if the older she got the more overprotective her parents became. When she was ten, she and Vanessa were aloud to run around the neighborhood without adult supervision as long as it was not after the sun set. Besides, it's not like the second she turns sixteen people are going to start coming after her. This whole thing just did not make any sense.

Aria's pleading ocean blue eyes met Elizabeth's. "Mom, I promise Vanessa and I will stay together and walk straight to school and then come right home when classes are over. We'll be fine."

The doorbell rang again. Aria imagined Vanessa standing there, tapping her foot, wondering what the heck was taking her so long. Before her parents had a chance to say anything else, Aria yelled bye, grabbed her backpack and ran to the front door. When she opened it, she found her best friend smiling but still wearing a look of slight impatience. Her soft curly, strawberry blonde hair bounced just past her shoulders.

"Hey, Aria!" Vanessa hugged her, warmly. "I was beginning to think you were still asleep. So how was your trip to California?"

"Great... come on lets start walking," Aria replied rapidly, as she took hold of Vanessa's arm and pulled to down the sidewalk, walking rapidly until they were a few houses down the street.

"Is there a reason you are so anxious to get to school?" Vanessa asked, confused, while lifting her eyebrow. "You didn't actually buy our parent's 'oh, everything will be much better this year' speech, did you?"

"Sorry," Aria released Vanessa's arm. "It's just that my parents insisted on walking with us to school."

Vanessa gaped at her best friend, appalled. "Are you kidding? They actually wanted to go with us to school? Why, we walked by ourselves everyday last year and nothing happened?"

Aria shrugged. "That's exactly what I said, but they seem to think some people might be after girls our age or something like that. They made a big deal about how I am turning sixteen soon."

"It's not much different than being fifteen," Vanessa pointed out.

"Yeah, it's not like I look any different," Aria huffed, glumly.

Vanessa eyed her curiously, "Is something else bothering you."

Aria sighed. Her best friend seemed to always be able to sense when something was wrong.

"It's just that I was hoping for some sort of change in appearance over the summer. Since my parents still won't let me get a haircut, going to the beach to and getting tanner was really my only hope."

Vanessa looked at Aria's complexion. "Yeah, you really don't look much different there. Did your parents make you put on SPF 50 or something? My parents always do."

Aria shook her head. "No, I asked them if I should put on sunblock, and Mom just shrugged, and answered, 'If you want.' She seemed pretty sure that nothing would happen, and she was right, apparently."

Before Vanessa had a chance to add anything else, they heard a voice greet, "Hey girls!"

They looked and saw that it was Ms. Fleming out in her yard, waving enthusiastically. Ms. Fleming had to be one of the strangest people Aria has ever met in her entire life, but that was what she loved about her. The way she dressed reminded Aria of a gypsy with her long shirts and excessive jewelry. Her hair flaming red went about down to just past her mid-back, almost as long as Aria's. Her house seemed to fit her personality quite well. She had painted all over the bricks so it looked like a piece of abstract artwork. Aria had known Ms. Fleming her entire life so she had grown accustomed to this bizarreness. She remembered how much fun she use to have when Ms. Fleming use to babysit both her and sometimes Vanessa.

"Hi Ms. Fleming," they replied together.

Ms. Fleming smiled brightly. "Are you two looking forward to the new school year?"

"Not really," Vanessa responded while Aria just shook her head.

"Oh… come now. Aren't there like a lot of cute boys in high school? You girls are at just the proper age to enjoy that kind of romance."

This time Aria spoke, "Yeah, I suppose, but none of the boys at our school are interested in us."

Ms. Fleming just continued to smile. "Don't worry, my dear, I'm sure you will find your Prince Charming soon. Well, you girls had better be on your way. You don't want to be late."

They both waved bye to Ms. Fleming and continued on the path to Sheerwood High.

When they reached out of earshot from Ms. Fleming Vanessa commented, "That was kind of strange. I mean what she said about finding _Prince Charming_."

Aria didn't really think much on it. Ever since she was a little girl, Ms. Fleming would talk about how one day Aria would find the perfect man, calling him either her true love or Prince Charming. She said it was Aria's destiny. "I'll bet if she went to out school she would see that not one single boy fits the description of a _Prince Charming_."

"Sometimes the way she talks, its like she not even from this world." Vanessa gave a quick glance back. "Don't you think? It seems like she popped out of some fantasy novel or something like that."

"She definitely stands out here in Norfolk."

Aria was not really sure what else to say. Vanessa was always quick to believe in out there or even supernatural ideas. She was the last person Aria knew that stopped believing in Santa Claus and the Easter bunny. When they were kids, Vanessa would never go out during a full moon because she believed there may be werewolves out there somewhere. Aria recalled that one time there was a full moon on Halloween, and Vanessa refused to go trick-or-treating with her because of it.

Vanessa still stared down as they walked, in deep thought. "Also, don't you think its weird that she looks the exact same as she did when we were kids. Its like she does not age."

"Maybe she's she's vampire," said Aria jokingly.

"Yeah, maybe…" Vanessa muttered before it hit her how ridiculous she sounded.

The girls continued to chat as they walked the rest of the way to school. When they arrived they found, they saw a group of boys standing by the front steps, hollering and laughing loudly, as though they were at a championship football game. One particular boy stood out to Aria. She stared dreadfully at him as he ran his fingers through his thick light brown hair, brushing it out of his face, wearing a grey t-shirt and loose baggy shorts.

_Oh no, _Aria thought to herself, _not Derek James._ Aria had hoped he'd transfer or get held back or something, anything. Ever since elementary school, Derek had always tormented and made fun of Aria. It was never anything serious. He would just call her names or tug on her long hair usually not too hard, except for once in second grade, he accidentally pulled with too much strength and made her cry. Aria just wished that for once he would just leave her alone.

As Aria quickly walked up the steps, Derek waved to her, "Hey Aria! "

Aria waved back, cautiously, giving Vanessa a nervous glance.

"So what did you do over the summer? Anything fun?"

Aria shot him a puzzled look. Was he actually trying to have a real conversation with her?

"I, um, went to California with my parents," Aria replied shyly, avoiding his brown eyes. "We spent a lot time at the beach."

Derek chuckled, glanced at his best friend, Ian, then said, "Don't people usually get tanner after going to the beach? You're even paler than I remember you before."

"I'm exactly the same," Aria muttered as she turned around to walk off.

"Ignore him," Vanessa consoled, taking her best friend's arm and leading her in the building. "He's just being a jerk."

As they walked to their lockers, Aria began shaking her head. "I don't think I can do another year of this. I can't take Derek's teasing anymore."

"He just made a comment about your skin," Vanessa reminded her. "It's not a big deal. You don't even have to take that as an insult."

"I know, but that's always how he starts each year, with just little comments like that, and then as the year progresses he just gets worse and worse. I don't think I have it in me to put up with it again. I want to be homeschool," Aria declared, firmly, as she opened her locker.

As Vanessa grabbed books from her own locker she considered this. "That's actually not a bad idea. That way, we'd never have to see the Wicked Witch of the West again."

Aria laughed as she knew exactly who Vanessa spoke of, Kendal Lewis. She had to be the meanest, snobbiest girl Sheerwood High has ever had within its walls, and yet, somehow, that made her the most popular. Aria never understood high school politics. Aria spotted her, chatting with her two decibels, Lacey Goodman and Karen Wales.

Aria let out a deep breath. "Do you think if I were as pretty Kendal, I would be popular too?"

Vanessa snorted as she glanced down the hall at Kendal. "I don't see why you'd want to look like her. She's Barbie doll pretty. There's nothing natural about her. I bet she spends at least an hour a day putting on make-up. You don't even need any."

Aria saw what Vanessa meant. Kendal had bleach blonde, shiny hair, bone straight that went down to her mid-back. She would always wear short skirts or skin tight jeans, whatever the style was at the time. Today, she wore a laced pink shirt and white top that revealed a half inch of her stomach along with black strapped heels. Aria could easily picture a hot pink plastic box that said Barbie around Kendal.

Sighing, Aria pointed out, "Well, she is the kind of beauty that's accepted here in high school. People don't even seem to notice how mean she really is, especially her boyfriend, Ian."

Vanessa gave Kendal one last bitter look. "The more I think about spending the next three years with her, the better homeschooling sounds."

Aria almost agreed but then thought their only other friend in this place. "The only problem with that is we would never see Walter anymore."

Vanessa just shrugged. "Sure we would. He would be the one to home school us. He is smart enough."

"Who's smart enough?" came a voice from behind them.

The girls turned around to see just the person they happened to be discussing, Walter Price. He stood, a few inches taller than the girls, with short spiky dirty blonde hair, wearing thin oval shaped glasses.

"Hey Walter!" the girls greeted in unison, offering him a smile.

Walter returned the smile. "Hello, Aria, Vanessa. How was your summer?"

"It was alright," Vanessa answered. "I went to Maine to visit my grandparents and Aria went to California and didn't get a tan."

"Thanks, Vanessa," Aria rolled her eyes. "How about you, Walter?"

"My parents sent me to a study Camp to improve my studying habits. It was actually quite helpful."

Vanessa rolled her eyes. "Like you of all people need to go to a study camp! You're already the smartest person in our grade."

"Yes, well, being a straight A student at a mediocre high school is hardly much of an achievement."

"Well, at least that's perfect for our plan this year," Vanessa declared, exchanging glances with Aria.

Walter raised his eyebrow. "What plan would that be?"

"Aria and I are going to be home schooled from now on," Vanessa declared, folding her arms, "and you are going to be our tutor."

"Why on earth would you two want to be home schooled?" Walter asked.

"Because Aria doesn't want put up with Derek anymore and I don't want to have to look at Kendal's snotty face ever again," Vanessa explained, stubbornly stomping her foot.

"I don't really want to see Kendal anymore either," Aria muttered in agreement, and then added more loudly, "Besides, there's nothing for us here."

"What about Band? You really enjoy music, right Aria?" Walter reminded her, and then moved his hazel eyes to Vanessa. "And wouldn't you miss being on the volleyball team?"

Aria exchanged another glance with Vanessa and then sighed. "I think he's right."

"He's always right," Vanessa grumbled shaking her head at Walter. "Have you ever once in your life actually been wrong?"

Walter looked up, pretending to think. "I thought so once, but it turned out I was wrong."

Aria giggled while Vanessa rolled her eyes and playfully smacked his arm. After hearing the five minute warning bell, the three of them made their way to Homeroom to avoid tardiness. As they took their seats, Aria eyed the other side of the classroom, where the popular kids sat, and then turned her gaze back to Vanessa and Walter, who sat beside her and smiled. She figured this next year would at least be bearable as long as she had her friends.


	3. Chapter 2 Invitation Rejected

_Chapter 2_

_Invitation Rejected_

Aria felt as though the day should be at least half way over but in reality, the homeroom bell had only just rung. Since their teacher had not yet arrived, students continued to chat blatantly. Aria overheard people around discussing the hottest party coming up this weekend, which just happens to be at Kendal's, of course. Remembering last year when Kendal threw this party, Aria recalled how much she desired an invitation but did not receive one. All the cool people would be guaranteed an invite but, unfortunately, it was up to the party hostess to decide who's in.

Aria put her elbow on her desk so she could rest her head on her hand, and sighed, looking at Vanessa, who sat in front of her. "Do you think we'll get invited to Kendal's party this year?"

Vanessa shot a brief glance at Kendal, and shrugged. "Who cares. If we were, then we would be stuck in the same place as Kendal."

"Yeah, but it would be nice to be included, don't you think?" Aria asked as she gazed longingly at the popular crowd. "Do you think maybe if I'm nice to Kendal then she'll invite me?"

Vanessa snorted. "Are you serious? This is Kendal we are talking about. She doesn't respond to _nice_."

Aria could not help but laugh. "You make it sound as though she's not even human."

"You have to wonder," Vanessa muttered.

Aria opened her mouth to reply, but at that moment the door opened and a woman, appearing to be in her thirties entered the room, with a pleasant smile on her face. She had thick shoulder length light brown hair and wore wiry oval glasses similar to Walter's. Aria assumed this must be their homeroom teacher. The first thing she noticed about this teacher was that she appeared to be about eight months pregnant.

"Hello, class," the teacher greeted as she set down her bag and seated herself on the stool by the teachers desk. "Sorry I am a few minutes late. I am Mrs. Norbert. Many of you will have me again later for English so I will go ahead and inform you now, the first piece of literature we will read is _Romeo and Juliet."_

Most of the boys groaned, not thrilled about reading a love story. Aria did not mind the romance, but she was not entirely comfortable with Shakespeare as she had major difficulty with old English.

"Now class," Mrs. Norbert pleaded in a sweet voice. "This is a beautiful story about true love, the passion two people around your age felt for each other, as well as the consequences these bold feelings brought to them. For those of you who have never read the play, please, at least give it a chance."

Mrs. Norbert then spent the rest of the ten minutes of homeroom discussing the school's policy, academic honesty, and when tryouts for sports and cheerleading would be.

When the bell rang, most of the class got up and left. Aria noticed Vanessa remained seated.

"Aren't you coming?" Aria asked.

"I have English this period," Vanessa replied with a shrug and a half smile.

"Oh yeah, that's right." Aria let out a disappointed breath. "Well, see you later."

Aria and Vanessa had compared schedules and found that this year besides homeroom, they only had biology together. Aria just hoped that Derek and Kendal were not in many of her classes, but knowing her luck they would be. At least she knew for sure she would be safe from them in Band. Neither of them would step foot near the Band Hall. That was one of Aria's favorite things about that particular class and it was one of the few she had with Walter. The only thing that would make it better was if Vanessa was in it, but due to Vanessa's lack of interest in music, Aria knew that would never happen.

As Aria walked to her locker, she overheard Ian and Kendal.

"So we're reading Romeo and Juliet. It will be like reading about our future, won't it?" Ian winked at Kendal. "We're going to end up just as happy they were."

Kendal looked at him sharply. "You know they both die at the end."

Ian looked up, scratching his head. "Oh Really? Well, I never actually read it."

"It's common knowledge, you idiot," Kendal snapped impatiently.

"Hey, either way, I just meant the fact that they were so deeply in love," Ian defended.

Kendal's expression softened and even smiled, or at least Aria thought she saw her smile. She then gently kissed her boyfriends cheek before heading off to her next class. As Aria watched her grow smaller in the distance, she made a mental not to inform Vanessa she observed a brief flash of humanity in Kendal. Aria just wished that humanity extended to Kendal inviting her to her party.

"Aria, are you going to class now? You have Latin now, right?"

Aria snapped out of her daydream and turned around to see Walter approaching her.

"Oh, yeah, I do," Aria answered and then asked hopefully, "Do you have Latin this period?"

Walter nodded. Aria then wondered what else they had together so Walter hander her his schedule to look. Aria groaned as appeared that after this, they only had Biology and Band together. She supposed at least that was something.

The rest of the day went by rather slowly. All the teachers talked about what there class was going to be like and went over some rules. The boredom seemed to numb Aria's mind. She had hoped they would at least play something in Band, but it turned out she just had to listen to yet another jaded lecture about the class activities of the year. Aria found herself daydreaming about having her own party and suddenly becoming more popular than Kendal, and telling Derek off with a clever comeback in front of everyone, humiliating him. She could not help but grin at the prospect.

Once Band let out, Aria and Walter walked together to their lockers.

"Well, today wasn't so bad, was it?" Walter began to pack up his backpack while talking.

"Maybe not for you. It turns out I have every single class except Band and Gym with either Derek or Kendal, some with both of them. They are the very two people I want to avoid more than anyone."

"If you want to avoid Kendal so much, then why were you disappointed when you didn't get invited to her party?"

Aria looked over to see that Walter honestly look befuddled by this. He just did not get why it seemed so important to be popular. "It's just that…uh, oh I don't know… hey Vanessa!"

Thank goodness Vanessa showed up at that moment. Aria had no idea how to explain to Walter why it was so important to to receiver an invitation to a party hosted by someone she detested, or well, at least detested her. It honestly did not even make much sense to her.

The girls bid Walter farewell before heading towards the exit.

"Hey, lets go out the side door," Aria said as she noticed Derek by the front door.

Vanessa nodded and followed Aria, but pointed out, "You know you can't avoid him the whole year. Maybe if you start standing up to him, he won't bother you anymore."

Aria let out a deep breath as she glanced glumly at Derek. "Somehow I doubt that."

xXx

The first week of school dragged on like a snail, strolling through the prairie. Aria still found herself putting a lot of effort into avoiding Derek. It was starting to seem that every time she came into his presence he would call her names and either make fun of her hair or extremely fair skin tone. It real got old after awhile. At least Kendal ignored her most of the time though she actually desired something from her, or well, at least an invite.

Aria walked into her history class and sat by herself close to the back. She went ahead and got out her homework, when Ian sat down in the desk next to her.

"Hey, did you get number 3?"

When Aria realized her was talking to her, she quickly glanced at her own paper. 'What year was the Declaration of Independence signed?' It did not seem like a difficult question to her.

"1776," Aria answered politely.

"Thanks! You're awesome." Ian scribbled down the year and then turned his head back to her. "Hey, you're coming to the party at Kendal's tomorrow night?"

"No, I didn't get an invite." Aria shrugged as she figured Kendal must not have bothered to inform Ian of who was invited and who was not.

Ian just looked at her, utterly bewildered. "What do mean you didn't get invited? I thought everyone was coming. You should come anyway. Kendal won't care."

Derek strolled in the room and sat on the other side of Ian. "Hey, dude, why are you talking to Pippy Longstocking, here?"

Aria rolled her eyes. In elementary school, Aria's mom would always do her hair in pig-tails which indeed led to this particular overused nickname for her.

"I was just inviting her to the party," Ian explained. "Come on, dude, she's cool."

Derek raised his eyebrow. "Without asking Kendal? Are you sure you want to do that? You know how she gets."

"Hey, I don't need to ask Kendal for permission on every little thing."

Derek just shrugged and turned back to face the front. "Okay then. It's your funeral."

Ian put his hand on his desk and turned to face Derek. "Look, man. I know it may seem like Kendal is in control but behind the scenes, I'm the one who steers the wheel."

"Whatever you say, man," Derek answered in an unconvinced tone.

Before Ian had a chance for another defense, Mr. Mosby ordered the class to silence and began the lecture. Aria tried her best to pay attention but she just could not concentrate as her mind spun like a playground spinning wheel.

_I can't believe Ian actually invited me to the party, _Aria thought in glee. _This has to be the best Friday ever!_

When the bell rang, Aria practically galloped to Biology and sat between Vanessa and Walter with a broad grin across her face.

"Guess what!" Aria squealed as she faced Vanessa. "Ian just invited me to the party tomorrow night!"

"Really! When did that happen?" Vanessa asked, enthused, while Walter sighed and went back to reading his text book.

"Just last period. He asked me what year the Declaration of Independence was signed and then after I gave him the answer he asked me if I was going to the party and when I said I wasn't invited he said I could come!"

"You mean he didn't know what year the Declaration of Independence was signed?" Walter looked up from his book.

Vanessa rolled her eyes. "That's not the point Walter!" She then looked back at Aria. "So are you going to go?"

"Of coarse! You know how much I wanted to be invited. You should come, too. Since I got a last minute invite, it's probably not a big deal if you come too."

Vanessa shifted her eyes down to her hands. "Well, I don't know. Its really not my kind of thing."

"Come on please!" Aria looked at her with her sad crystalline eyes. "I can't go by myself. I won't have anyone to talk to."

"Ladies, if don't don't mind, I would like to begin my lesson now." Mrs. Stevens looked down at them sternly.

"Sorry," they muttered and fell silent.

At they sat down for lunch, Aria had no intention of dropping the matter. She faced Vanessa with a determined look on her face.

"So?" Aria demanded the moment they sat at their usual table, "Will you go with me, please? I'm sure we'll have a good time. I mean, its a party."

"Oh, alright," Vanessa sighed in reluctance as she pulled out her history homework, "but just to get it out of our system, or well, your system. I think after this you'll realize that all it's only a bunch of kids that think they're cool gathered around dancing and drinking so much that they can barely put together a sentence."

"Well, we don't have to drink." Aria pointed out and then turned to Walter. "What about you? Are you going?"

Walter shook his head. "To a party full of people I don't like and don't like me? No thank you."

"Come on," Aria persisted. "Parties are a part of high school. Everyone should experience it."

"Yeah, we can be the only two people that don't want to be there," Vanessa chimed in but had her eyes on her assignment. "Hey, what did you get for number 6?"

Walter glanced at the question. "Which battle was the turning point for the American Revolution? The answer is stated clearly in the book, Vanessa."

Vanessa stared blankly at her textbook. "I don't see it."

"It's on the next page," Walter informed trying to sound as patient as possible.

"Oh." Vanessa quickly flipped the page. "Which paragraph?"

Walter looked at her with exasperation. "Really Vanessa? Why didn't you do this last night?"

"I had volleyball practice so there was no time," Vanessa protested, stressfully running her fingers through her light red hair. "Come on, Walter, which paragraph?"

"The third one," Walter muttered through gritted teeth. "What about after practice? I'm sure there was time then."

Without looking at him, Vanessa shrugged. "I was too tired after practice." After she finished writing she lifted her head towards him. "You know, Walter, not everyone can just glance at the book and suddenly spot the right answer like you can."

"Yeah, but you don't even seem to try," Walter pointed out to her in an irritated tone. "You always just barely skim the pages and if you don't immediately see the answer then you want me to just give it to you."

"That's not entirely true!" Vanessa defended, heated up, and then glanced at Aria. "Fine, how about this? You go to the party with us this weekend and I'll do my own homework all by myself. I won't ask you for a single answer."

"We don't have any homework this weekend," Walter reminded her.

"Oh." Vanessa scratched her head in remembrance, and then gave Walter an innocent smile. "Well, its the thought that counts, right? I would have done it." She turned her head to Aria. "You believe me, right Aria?"

"Um… yeah, sure," Aria agreed though not entirely convinced. She then turned back to Walter. "So, are you going?"

Walter sighed as he readjusted his glasses. "Oh, alright. I guess its like you say, Aria. Its part of the high school experience."

"Great!" Aria beamed to her reluctant friends. "I promise you, we will have a good time." Aria then opened her lunch box and groaned. "I forgot to pack something to drink. I'm going to go buy a soda. Be right back."

As she got up to leave, Aria heard Vanessa ask which sentence of the third paragraph the answer. She was fairly certain Walter's patience would soon evaporate and they would break out into a fight as the two often did. Aria just hoped that by the time she returned the fight would be over.

Aria walked to the vending machine and pressed the button for a Dr. Pepper. At that moment, Kendal approached her, flipping her bone straight hair behind her shoulders.

"Aria. I need to talk to you about tomorrow night," Kendal stated as she looked at her with icy ocean eyes.

"Okay, sure," Aria replied, brushing her hair behind her shoulders, as a dreadful feeling grew inside her.

"You see, Ian was confused. I have already planned this party for a certain amount of people and we just don't have enough plates, you know like for food, so you can't come." Kendal faked an apologetic smile at Aria though her tone did not sound sorry at all. "You understand, right?"

Aria thought about offering to bring her own plates and maybe some extra napkins along with then, but she knew that would only make her look desperate and make her even more uncool. She just nodded as apathetically as she possibly could and walked gloomily back to her table.

"You see, Walter, if you had just told me the answer was Saratoga in the first place, it would have saved us all this time, not to mention the argument," Vanessa was saying as Aria glumly sat back down beside her. "Now, where was the last battle of the… Aria, what's wrong?"

"We're not going to the party," Aria stated flatly. "Apparently there aren't enough plates."

Vanessa, immediately understanding, shot Kendal a dirty look before consoling, "You're probably not missing out on much. Besides, you don't want to hang out with someone like _that_ anyway. Also, Derek will probably be there too so…"

"Yeah, I suppose you're right," Aria moaned trying not to come off as too depressed on the matter. "I guess parties are one high school experience I'm just not meant to have."


	4. Chapter 3 Romeo and Juliet

_Chapter 3_

_Romeo and Juliet_

Over the next few weeks Aria began to wonder if that first week of school had just been put on repeat. She was not sure what she felt more sick of hearing, Derek's teasing, or everyone discussing what how awesome Kendal's party was that weekend. It seemed as though she had one every Friday or Saturday. Aria could not imagine her parents allowing this, but then again, Kendal's parents always let her do pretty much whatever she wanted.

"The Homecoming Dance is coming up soon, Derek," Aria heard Kendal saying as she, Derek and Ian strutted down the hallway. "You really need to start thinking about who you are planning to ask out."

"What do you mean, soon? Homecoming's not till November," replied Derek, apathetically. "We haven't even had the Halloween Dance yet."

"Yeah, Kendal," Ian chimed in. "We don't need to start worrying about the dance now. It's only September." He patted his best friend on the back. "Besides, Derek here, can get any girl he wanted."

Kendal turned to face him, placing her hands on her hips. "I know that. But last year, Derek never asked anyone out. As one of the top football players in this school, that's just unacceptable." She then turned her head to Derek. "Is there a reason you never bothered to ask anyone out?"

Derek sighed as he pondered this for a moment. "I guess there were just no girls I was interested in."

Kendal raised her eyebrow. "Really? Of all the girls here, there is no one that you want to ask out?" When Derek only shrugged, she then suggested, "What about my friend, Karin? I could set you up with her."

Unwilling to even consider, Derek just snorted at this. "Karin Wales! No way! I once asked her how her day was and she did not stop yapping for an hour."

"Man, I hate it when girls do that," Ian commented with a grin.

Kendal, shooting her boyfriend an exasperated look, snapped, "You're not helping!"

Ian scratched his head, appearing to try to think quickly. "Okay, lets see here…hmm. What about your other friend, Lacey. She and Derek would go good together. Don't you think? She's not nearly as chatty as Karin."

"Lacey's already going out with Matt," Kendal replied, rather impatiently. "Look Derek. It doesn't matter you who ask out so long as she's at least somewhat cool. You can't just ask anyone." She gave Aria, who quickly opened her locker door and pretended not to listen, a sideways glance before turning to Ian and adding, "And you. You better asked me to Homecoming soon before I decide to go with someone else."

With that Kendal marched off, leaving Derek and Ian behind appearing slightly exhausted. Aria grabbed her History book, still listening.

"Maybe I can solve both of our problems and just ask Kendal." Derek look over and winked at Ian to see his reaction.

"Dude!"

"Just joking!" Derek said quickly and then turned his head back to the direction Kendal stormed off in. "Man, she is unbelievable."

"Yeah, she is, isn't she?" Ian agreed in an awed tone.

Derek jestingly punched his arm. "I didn't mean that in a good way. I meant that she's been dating you for two years, and now she's starting to think she can boss me around."

"She's just looking out for you man," Ian assured. "Just think of Kendal telling you what to do as her special way of showing that she cares."

Derek's only response to this was a soft grunt.

As Aria continued on to History, she briefly wondered why Derek had not asked anyone out. Just as Kendal pointed out, he could probably get any girl he wanted. After all, he was pretty good looking with his thick wavy, dirty blonde hair, not to mention the fact that he's on the football team. Is he really waiting, in search of the right girl? Maybe, deep down, he actually is more sensitive than Aria ever gave him credit for.

"Hey, Skin-as-white-as-snow, you're in my seat," Derek said looking down at her.

And maybe not. Aria grabbed her books and moved over to another desk without saying a word.

_Vanessa's right_, Aria thought in annoyance._ I do need to learn to stand up to him_.

xXx

Later that day at lunch, Aria told Vanessa everything overheard from Derek not anxious to ask anyone out, ending with his comment to her in History.

"So let me get this straight," Vanessa analyzed with a raised brow as the two made their way to their usual table. "He called you skin-as-white-as-snow. That doesn't really sound like an insult to me."

"What do you mean?" Aria demanded in dis-belief she set her lunch tray down next to Walter's. "He's making fun of my skin tone again."

"It sounds like he's referencing Snow White," Vanessa observed as she took a bite of her sandwich.

"Exactly! Snow White was the _fairest_ in the land. He's definitely poking fun at me." Aria sighed as she put her hand on her head, glancing at Walter. "Don't you agree?"

"Well, in the context of the story fairest means most beautiful," Walter pointed out.

"He's right. It really sounds more like an unintentional compliment to me." Vanessa thought about this and then giggled. "It kind of seems as though he likes you. That could be the real reason he hasn't asked anyone to the dance yet."

Aria gaped at her best friend, bewildered by her last comment. "Derek likes _me?_ That's got to be the most ridiculous thing you've thought of, ever!"

Vanessa shrugged, flipping her hair behind her shoulder, and added, "Well, you have to admit it is pretty weird that he has not asked anybody out, especially since he's the kind of guy that can get any girl he wants."

Aria pondered as she gave a brief glance over to the popular table, as a light bulb seemed to pop over her head. "Kendal! That's it. Derek likes Kendal and that's why he won't ask anyone else out. That makes sense."

Vanessa snorted. "Are you serious? It doesn't even make sense that Ian likes Kendal."

"Despite everything, she is the most popular girl at school," Aria reminded her. "I suppose that's all it takes for someone like Derek to be into her."

Vanessa frowned. "I don't know. I doubt Derek would be able to put up with someone as bossy as Kendal. He's the kind of guy that does what he wants when he wants to do it, unlike Ian, who seems to be more of a pushover, perfect for someone like Kendal."

"Yeah, she is pretty bossy," Aria agreed. "Also, Derek and Kendal dating would be just… well, scary."

"Agreed. Talk about your unholy matrimony." Vanessa then turned her head to Walter. "You've been pretty quiet."

Walter, finishing up his sandwich replied, "I guess I just don't have much to say on the matter, though based on what you said earlier, it does seem like Derek likes Aria."

Aria's jaw dropped while Vanessa burst out laughing and declared, "You see, Walter agrees with me on this so it must be true."

Aria put her hand on the table, eying both her friends, and stated firmly, "Okay, we are going to have to remember this day for all time as the first day Walter is actually wrong about something."

Still in giggles, Vanessa shook her head. "Yeah, right, I'll believe it once I see it."

Aria opened her mouth to debate further, but the lunch bell rang before she had the chance.

After lunch Aria had Geometry, which the main downside for her was that it had Kendal. Luckily for Aria, she mostly just ignored her. When class let out, Aria then dreadfully made her way to gym, figuring she would likely make a fool of herself in some way. Back in middle school, Derek once joked that if Aria would shooting hoops with a blind man, he would be more likely to score than her. Aria supposed she should at least be grateful to be free of Derek this period. Since he and Ian play football and Kendal is a cheerleader, none of them needed to take gym.

Most people thought of Gym class at Sheerwood High as kind of a joke. The girls always purposely took a long time to get changed and by the time the coaches got everyone together and finished taking roll the class period was more than halfway over, though Aria did not mind this. Today, the girls played kickball for about ten minutes before it became time for them to change back into their school clothes and head to their next class.

In English, Aria found that Mrs. Norbert was not kidding about being passionate about _Romeo and Juliet_. It has been three weeks and they still were not even halfway through discussing the play. Aria, growing tired of it, in recent lectures found herself daydreaming throughout the majority of the discussion. She sometimes imagined herself on the balcony wearing an elegant gown, back in a time where long hair and fair skin was socially acceptable. A handsome young man would come and declare her love for her and they would live happily together forever. Aria supposed at least her thoughts were somewhat related to the plot, only with a happier ending.

"Good afternoon, class." Mrs. Norbert, who remained seated on her stool with one hand on her belly and the other holding the play, greeted warmly and once having everyone's attention, continued, "I believe you will better be able to picture this story if you see it acted out so today we will be acting out my favorite scene from Romeo and Juliet, the scene where Romeo declares his love for Juliet on the balcony. Now, do I have any volunteers for the parts of Romeo and Juliet?"

No one raised their hand. Aria sunk lower in her seat. She noticed Ian look questionably to his girlfriend, but Kendal shook her head. Aria wished they would have just volunteered. Then she would not have anything to worry about.

"Very well then. It's look like I will have to choose." Mrs. Norbert looked around the classroom. "Derek, why don't you be Romeo."

Derek grunted and then walked up to the front of the classroom.

"And for Juliet, let's see…"

Aria stared down, intently, at her desk avoiding eye contact with her teacher. _Oh God, please don't let her pick… _

"Aria, you will be Juliet." Mrs. Norbert beamed down at her. "Now come along. Don't be shy."

Aria sighed while joining Derek at the front of the classroom. She could feel her hands becoming clammy with sweat as she anxiously held up her copy of the play. Nothing made her more nervous than speaking in front of everyone, or even just standing up in front of the class.

Once Mrs. Norbert pointed to the starting line, Aria softly read aloud, "Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?"

"With more feeling, Aria." Mrs. Norbert held her own copy up higher and placed her other hand on her heart. "As though you are speaking to your true love."

Aria peered over her book at Derek. She could not think of anything more impossible to do right now.

"Yeah," Derek added sarcastically. "Pretend you love me so much you are willing to stab a knife through your chest and die because of it."

"Derek!" Mrs. Norbert looked surprised at his remark.

In realization that he went too far, Derek immediately apologized, "I'm sorry, Mrs. Norbert. It's just that I don't understand the point of this play. People killing themselves over love?"

Aria looked up at her teacher, fearful of saying anything. If this were any other teacher, Derek would have got in trouble for that kind of comment. Mrs. Norbert, however, welcomed her student's opinion even if they went against her own. Aria had to admit, she agreed with Derek on this one, though she did not have the courage to point it out. Perhaps it was only because she could not imagine being that in love with someone.

Mrs. Norbert raised her eyebrow, yet her expression remained soft. "Tell me, Derek. Have you ever been in love?"

Derek shrugged. "No."

Mrs. Norbert then looked to the rest of the class. "How about the rest of you? Has anyone here ever been in love?"

Only a few of Aria's classmates actually raised their hand at this. Aria noticed Ian's quickly shoot up after Kendal gave him a sharp look.

"Interesting. This gives me an idea for an assignment. Tonight for homework I want you to write me a short paragraph about whether or not you would be willing to die for your love, believing that if doing so you will forever be with them in the afterlife. If you did not raise your hand just try to imagine as best you can what it would be like to be in love with someone and write me your response. Remember, there is no right or wrong answer. All I ask is that you are honest."

When class let out, Ian slapped his hand on Derek's shoulder. "Nice going, dude. You made her give us an extra assignment."

"It's just a paragraph," Derek responded then asked with a smirk, "So would you die for Kendal?"

Ian sighed, glancing at his uptight girlfriend. "I'm afraid if I let her die alone, I would never hear the end of it from her."

"Dude, you really are whipped," Derek laughed as the two of them exited the classroom.

Aria thought about what she would write for her paragraph. Honestly, she could not imagine being so in love with someone that she would be willing to die for him, but then again, she could not picture herself being in love at all.

For the rest of the day, Aria could not get her mind free of the assignment. As she sat down in Band and started putting together her flute, Aria turned around and asked Walter what he thought.

"That is a difficult question," he pondered as he assembled his saxophone. "I'm not sure how I would answer that. Like you, I do not know what is feels like to be in love."

"Mrs. Norbert said we had to imagine what it feels like if we've never been in love." Aria let out a frustrated sigh. "This is Derek's fault! If he had just kept his mouth shut, we wouldn't have this extra assignment." She paused for a moment and then added more softly, "I really can't picture myself ever wanting to die, for any reason at all. I just can't think of a way to say that without it sounding bad."

"Well, you could write that you value your own life and are willing to be strong and move on without your loved one," Walter suggested.

"Wow, you really do have an answer for everything, don't you?" Aria started to turn back around but added, "You're still wrong about Derek liking me, though."

Walter appeared as though he wanted to say something but before he had the chance Mr. Spooner, the director, stood up on the podium and everyone held up their instruments, ready to play. After the warm up, he announced this year, for the fall concert, they will be playing "My Heart Will Go On" from Titanic. Aria felt the urge to slump back in her chair. It seems like the theme this year at Sheerwood is going to be love. Still single, Aria just wished she could get away from it.


	5. Chapter 4 Special Hair

_A/N: I just want to thank Time Kharab Hai for your review since there was no reply link. I'm flattered that you think I should try to get this published. I would like to eventually but before that there is still quite a bit of work to be done with the story. Also, thank you Miss Papillon and Ifa1diya for sticking with this yet again, and to Religion and District for your review too. As you can see, I really do appreciate reviews. :)_

_Chapter 4_

_Special Hair_

"I've told you, Vanessa," Walter stated with exasperation. "I'm not going to just give you the answer."

Vanessa glared at him, slamming her hand against her desk, protesting, "I'm not asking you for an answer, Walter. I was just wondering what the function of RNA is."

Walter raised his eyebrow. "So I suppose this is your idea of a conversation starter."

Vanessa's eyes moved downward as she started tapping her fingers on the desk. "Umm, yeah…sure."

"And your conversation starter just happens to be number 5 on our homework assignment?" Walter asked, eying Aria who, at the moment, was frantically flipping through the pages of her Biology book.

"Come on, Walter," Vanessa pleaded as her expression softened. "We only have a few minutes until Mrs. Stevens gets here and she always immediately takes up our homework."

"Found it!" Aria panted, slamming her finger against the paragraph. "It's a temporary copy of genes and gene information."

"Well, there's more to it than that," Walter muttered.

"It'll have to do," said Vanessa as she scribbled the answer.

"Did you two really not have any time last night for school work?" Walter inquired with a sigh.

"Well, I did have Flute sectionals after school," Aria reminded, him though still felt a twinge of guilt, "and Vanessa had volleyball practice."

Walter nodded but then asked, "Okay, and what about after that?"

"We may have talked on the phone, a little," Aria admitted, avoiding his eyes.

"You know what, Walter?" Vanessa turned to him, her cheeks, slowing transforming to red. "Not everyone is as smart are you are! Some of us can't just read a textbook and immediately know the all the answers!"

"I understand that but you don't even try," Walter pointed out in an irritated tone. "At least Aria took the time to look for the answer. You just spent the past ten minutes pestering me to give it to you when you could have been trying to find it for yourself."

Her fury rising even higher, Vanessa pounded her fist on the table and opened her mouth, but before she had the chance to say anything, the classroom door opened.

"Good afternoon, class," Mrs. Stevens, a plump little lady with thick glasses, greeted as she walked into the room. "Please pass up your homework."

Together, Aria and Vanessa sighed with relief, having both finished just in time seeing as number five was the final one they needed. Aria's consolation, however, came more from her teacher showing up when she did before her friends' bickering evolved into a more serious battle. The three of them had all been friends since the eighth grade and over that time Walter and Vanessa tended to find themselves victims to petty arguments. Aria had grown accustomed to this, but still deep down in her gut, rested the fear that one of these smaller, less meaningful fights may somehow lead to something that could put a permanent end to their friendship.

After the bell rang and the three of them headed for lunch, Aria let out another exhale of contentmen when Walter and Vanessa both seemed to have forgotten their argument and decided to discuss something else, though she did not care for this topic.

"Hey, did you notice the way Derek was looking at Aria last period?" Vanessa asked Walter with a grin.

Walter looked up and nodded. "He did seem to pay more attention to her than the lesson."

"He was probably just thinking of another insult he can use against me later," Aria grumbled.

"I'm not sure about that." Vanessa gazed up thinking. "This year, he doesn't seem to be making fun of you as much as he use to."

Aria could feel her frustration building as her cheeks began to burn. "Well, that's doesn't mean… There's no way he would…"

Vanessa looked back at Walter. "I think she's blushing." She then turned her head back to Aria and advised, "You know, you should just go up to him randomly start a casual conversation. He might realize that he does in fact like you, or he might get freaked out by your sudden boldness and never bother you again. Either way, it would put a permanent end to the teasing. What do you think?"

"I guess I could try it," Aria agreed even though the thought of going anywhere near Derek made her heart shudder. "I'll just hope that he decides not to talk to me anymore."

"Sure you would," Vanessa mumbled, shooting Walter a wink.

Aria just groaned in annoyance as she took a bit into her sandwich. Fortunately for her, the subject soon naturally changed into high school boys in general and how most of them were too immature to handle a relationship.

After lunch, Aria made her way to geometry. As she pulled out last night's homework, Aria smacked her hand against her head in realization that she still had a few questions left unanswered. She rapidly flipped through the pages of her textbook in search of similar example problems. While she was deep in concentration, Aria felt a brief brush on her back, followed by a tap on her shoulder.

"Hey, did you get number 4?"

Aria turned around to see Kendal starring at her sharply, waiting for a response. Not sure what to say, Aria gawked at her blankly.

Leaning back with her legs crossed, she tapped her pen impatiently. "Well?"

Aria looked back at her homework. "Um… I got sixty degrees, but I'm not sure that's right."

Kendal jotted the number down on her paper, no longer looking at Aria. "Doesn't matter. I just need a number to write down."

Aria rolled her eyes and went back to her own assignment. If Kendal just needed a number to write down why did she bother asking in the first place? Before Aria herself could finish, the bell rang and class began. Sighing, Aria figured at least most of the questions had answers. During class, she tried to focus on the lesson, but she kept thinking of what Vanessa's theory of Derek liking her. That could not even be possible, could it? It just did not seem to make any sense. Aria never thought of herself as the type of girl Derek would be interested in, someone shy and unpopular.

Once class let out, Aria proceeded to her locker, dreading gym class.

"Hey, Aria," Walter greeted as he approached her, though his eyes seemed to focus on behind her. "Uh, you have something in your hair."

As Aria reached her hand back to touch her hair, she felt something sticky and rubbery. "Eww…it's gum!"

"How did you get gum in your hair?" Walter wondered aloud. "You never even chew gum."

Aria thought for a moment then it hit her. "Kendal! She must have stuck it in my hair when she asked me for the answer in Geometry. I can't believe it. This is low, even for her!"

"Maybe you can find some peanut butter. They might have it in the cafeteria," Walter suggested. "That should get it out."

"There's no time. I'll just put my hair up in a ponytail for now. I'm going to gym next anyway." Aria let out a frustrated breath as she used her locker mirror to put up her hair. "Well, see you in Band."

During gym, Aria had a chance to unleash her anger. In kickball, she kicked harder than normal, pretending the ball was Kendal's head. Rage seemed to help her performance in althetics. Aria noticed the coaches seemed pleasantly surprised at her spontaneous improvement. Too bad she quite rarely found herself that furious. Even now, Aria felt sudden relief of her fury as brilliant idea came to mind. What if this was an opportunity for her to finally make a long overdue change? For once, she actually has a good reason to cut her hair. There is no way her parents could not blame her for taking drastic actions to get a disgusting piece of gum out of her hair. They would not get mad, right?

On her way to Band, Aria sent a text to Vanessa asking if her older bother, Aaron, would be willing to drive them to the mall after school. Not wanting to risk her parents stopping her, she decided best to go ahead and get the haircut and then go home. Once it was done, her parents would be powerless to do anything, except punish her.

"Did you get the gum out yet?" Walter asked as Aria sat down and assembled her flute.

"I'm going to take care of it after school," Aria replied, enthusiastically.

"You seem a bit more cheerful about this now," Walter commented with a concerned expression. "Please don't tell me this was just some bizarre test by Kendal so see if you are cool enough to go to her party."

Aria laughed. "Huh, I wish. No, I was thinking this would be a good reason to finally get my hair cut. Vanessa and I were going to go to the mall right after school."

Walter frowned. "Did you ask your parents?"

Aria rolled her eyes. "I really shouldn't need permission for something like that. I'll bet you there is not a single girl in this school that's not allowed to get a haircut. Besides, I was just going to tell them that I was desperate to get the gum out and couldn't think of another way. They can't possibly get mad then."

Walter just shrugged. "If you say so."

Throughout most of practice, Aria thought about what kind of cut she wanted to get. Her mind played out several different styles the other girls at school wore. Kendal had long layers, which were currently in style, and light feathered bangs. Aria tried to picture herself with something similar though since she has had the same hair her entire life, imagining herself with anything different seemed impossible.

The moment Band let out, Aria bid Walter a quick farewell, practically ran to her locker to get the rest of her things, and then went to find Vanessa.

"Did you ask you brother yet?" Aria demanded eagerly.

"He texted back 'sure,' Vanessa answered. "So what's the emergency? Why do you need to go to the mall so bad?"

"Kendal stuck gum in my hair," Aria answered, out of breath.

"Ewww….that's disgusting! I can't believe her! We have to do something to get her back." Vanessa stopped when she realized her friend did not share this same bitterness. "Okay, is there a reason you seem happy about this?"

Aria beamed as her words ran miles. "I figured this would be a good excuse for a haircut. Besides, the joke will be on Kendal if my new hairstyle draws more attention to me than her. In that case, it would be a pretty good way to get back at her without actually doing anything to her."

Vanessa considered this. "Yeah, I suppose, but won't your parents get upset if you chop of all your hair?"

Aria shrugged. "They'll get over it. Besides, I'm sure they will understand why I did it once I explain about the gum. I can just say I didn't know about the peanut butter thing."

Similar to Walter earlier, Vanessa frowned. "I don't know about this, Aria. I just hope you don't get in too much trouble."

Once again, Aria's eyes rolled. "How mad can they be over a haircut? Besides, it will grow back."

Just as they walked out of the building, they spotted Aaron in his truck, waiting for them. The girls hopped in and they drove to the mall. Westmont Mall was a rather small rectangular shaped shopping center with just one story, but Aria knew that there is at least one salon.

When Aaron dropped them off, the girls marched around the mall searching for a salon. Aria felt her heart pound heavily with excitement. She knew it seemed silly, but for her, this will be a new experience.

"There's one," Aria spotted. "Barbara Ann's Salon."

The girls walked in and Aria approached the front counter, where a young girl with spiky blonde hair and a nose ring sat reading a magazine. "Hi, uh, I would like to get a haircut."

"Name please," the girl demanded apathetically.

Aria fidgeted her fingers nervously. "Aria Rosenberg."

The girl at the counter sloppily jotted down her name and said, "We'll have someone for you in about fifteen minutes, Ms. Rosenberg. Meanwhile just sit over there."

She beckoned at the chairs in the waiting area. Aria and Vanessa sat down and looked at the magazines.

"What do you think of this one. Do you think it would look good on me?" Aria showed Vanessa a picture of a girl with a hair that flipped out just past her shoulders.

"Cute," Vanessa flipped though the pages of her magazine. "You could also get bangs to go with it. I'd maybe try side bangs though so it won't seem like you're just copying Kendal."

Aria sat up on the edge of her seat. "Great idea! Maybe highlights too!"

Vanessa frowned. "I wouldn't push your luck, Aria. Your parents are already going to be mad enough."

A tall woman with short bright red hair and thick bangs then came out, with a much friendlier expression than the receptionist. "Aria Rosenberg."

Aria stood up. "That's me."

"Hello, Aria," she greeted warmly, "My name is Lisa and I will be your stylist. So tell me, what would you like to have done?"

Aria pointed to the midsection of the back of her hair. "Well, I at least need the gum cut out of my hair."

Lisa continued to smiled, but asked, "You want to get a full blown haircut just to get out a piece of gum."

"Well, I guess it was kind of the final decision maker," Aria muttered and then quickly glanced at the magazine one last time. "I want the length to be just two inches past my shoulders and, um… how about long layers and, uh, I want my hair to flip out and I want side bangs.

"Alright then," Lisa smiled warmly seemingly understanding just what Aria wanted. "Lets get started. First, I'll go ahead and get that gum out and then I will proceed to shampoo and condition your hair."

This was all so exhilarating for Aria. Never in her life had she gone to get an actual haircut. It felt so great having someone shampoo her hair for her, as though her head was being messaged. When the actual cutting began, Aria watched in awe as Lisa cut her hair with such precision. It could not be easy to cut in layers but Lisa looked as though she could do it with her eyes closed.

When Lisa finished blowdrying and styling her hair she turned Aria's chair allowing her to view herself in the mirror.

"Oh my god!" Aria could not believe it. She looked like a completely different person. Her hair was exactly like that model in the magazine, only better. Aria's hair flipped out past her shoulders just perfectly.

"Do you like it?" Lisa asked her.

"Like it? I love it!" Aria excitedly ran her fingers through her hair. "I have never looked like this in my entire life!"

Aria ran out to the waiting area to show Vanessa. "So, what do think?"

"Wow! You look amazing!" Vanessa gazed admirably. "And you are definitely right about one thing. The joke is on Kendal. Just wait until she sees you!"

"Just wait until Derek sees me," Aria added without thinking, as they walked out of Barbara's Beauty Salon.

Vanessa grinned. "Yeah, that should be interesting, too."

Aria gave her an exasperated look. "Okay, you know that is not what I meant."

"Whatever you say," Vanessa muttered in an unconvinced tone.

As the two returned the Aaron's car and sat down, Aria briefly took the time to look at her reflection in the side view mirror and commented, "I can't believe myself for saying this, but I think I'm actually looking forward to school, tomorrow."

"Oh yeah, you will definitely be the center of attention, which will probably make Kendal's head explode." Vanessa laughed as she fastened her seatbelt, and then paused, looking suddenly concerned. "But first you are going to have to face your parents."

Aria let out a deep breath as she thought of what could happen when she returned home. She could not imagine her parents getting that upset once they see how good she looks now. Really, how big a deal could a simple haircut be? Still, just that thought alone made the rest of the car ride rather quiet.

As Aaron pulled the car up in front of Aria's house, Vanessa gave her a half smile, muttering, "Good luck."

"Thanks," Aria mumbled as she took in a deep breath and walked up to her front door. Before she reached it, the front door opened and out came Ms. Fleming.

"Oh, hello, Aria. Your parents called me when you did not come home. They were…. " She gasped as she noticed Aria's haircut. "Oh my, look at you. Did you just now do that?"

Aria beamed as she flipped her new layered hair in front of her shoulders. "Yeah, that's where I was after school. Do you like it? I know I must look completely different now, but this really is more like how a lot of girls at my school have their hair."

Ms. Fleming returned the smile, but her eyes did not seem to focus on Aria's new haircut. "You always look lovely no matter what, dear." She turned her head back to the door, appearing as though she were about to re-enter, but then turned back. "Well, I better get going. Good bye."

That was strange. Was Aria imagining this, or did Ms. Fleming seem nervous about something? Perhaps she was just worried about how much trouble Aria would be in with her parents. Throughout the years, she did complain quite a bit to Ms. Fleming about her parents' silly rules.

Aria herself grew more and more anxious as she entered her house, not knowing what to expect. Her fingers even trembled slightly as she opened the front door.

"Where have you been," Elizabeth demanded, stammering out from the kitchen. "Do you know how worried we've been? We called…." She put her hand over her mouth letting out a sharp breath. "Aria Ella Rosenberg! What did you do to your hair?"

"Kendal stuck gum in it so I got it cut." Aria shrugged trying to sound casual as though it was no big deal though her mind cowered back, seeing as her mother's use of her full name never meant anything good.

Elizabeth folded her arms, looking at her daughter sharply as she stammered, "There are other ways to get gum out without hacking off your hair!"

Aria rolled her eyes. Her mother could be so dramatic.

"I just thought that it's about time for a change," Aria argued on. "Besides, what's the big deal? It will grow back."

"Well, yes, I suppose it will." Elizabeth said this with a very odd tone in her voice. Her expression softened as she wondered aloud, "Why would Kendal even put gum in your hair in the first place? You two use to be such good friends."

Aria sighed glumly at the remembrance of this. Yes, her mother spoke the truth. There was once a time when Kendal was best friends with her and Vanessa. The the three of them even had these necklaces they would wear that said Best Friends Forever. Kendal had Best, Aria had Friends, and Vanessa had Forever. But in eighth grade, when Ian first asked Kendal out, she started to transform into another person. For a while, Vanessa considered the possibility of Kendal being possessed. Aria just guessed that she let her newfound popularity go to her head and for some reason, she decided to reject her old friends. Now, without Kendal, Aria and Vanessa were left with Friends Forever. After a while, Aria stuffed her necklace in one of her bedroom drawers, where it became lost. To this day, she has not seen it since.

xXx

The next morning, Aria awoke her her mother's voice as usual. "Aria, sweetie. Time to get up."

"Five more minutes?" Aria grumbled, pulling the covers over her head.

"No, honey," Elizabeth persisted, as she sat on the bed and gently pulled the covers down. "You need to get up now. Come on, I'll help you brush your hair."

"Huh?"

Aria sat up, groggily, rubbing her eyes. She felt something on her back, something that was not there last night before going to sleep. Running her fingers through her hair, Aria gasped. It, once again, ran down to her waist, as though it had never been cut. But how? She turned her head over to the mirror to find that she appeared exactly the same as always. Aria wondered if the trip to the salon was a dream or if she were still in a slumber now. Her nerves seemed too agitated for sleep at this moment.

"Mom, how… did I really…" Aria knew just what she wanted to ask but the right words seemed lost in a deep layer of her mind.

Elizabeth just acted normal as if nothing happened. "Come on, Sweetie, lets go ahead and get it brushed. There are probably a lot of tangles."

Aria felt her face grow ever whiter than usual. Looking in the mirror, she observed that her skin appeared to have lost its healthy glow.

Her voice shaking as her fingers weaved through end strands of her hair, Aria managed to breath, "Mom, why is my hair like this? What is wrong with me?"

Elizabeth spoke calmly, as she began run the brush through her daughter's lucious hair. "I've told you before, sweetie. You have very special hair."

Special? That could be one word to describe her hair. Aria found herself unable peel her horrified eyes away from her reflection. This is just not normal.


	6. Chapter 5 Ms Fleming's Advice

_Chapter 5_

_Ms. Fleming's Advice_

"Okay. You were with me yesterday," Aria reviewed, frantically, as she walked to school with Vanessa the next day. "We went to the salon, and I got nearly eight inches of my hair cut off. That really did happen…right?"

Vanessa opened her mouth but no words departed as her eyes ogled at her best's friend's hair for the tenth time on their walk. She seemed just as shocked as she felt through Aria's hair several times making sure it was all attached to her head and not extensions. Earlier, Aria speculated the possibility that her mother came in to her bedroom in the middle of the night and put extensions in her hair so it would return to its lengthy glory. Considering how deeply Aria slept on a typical night, it was unlikely she would have woken up.

Running her fingers through her hair, Aria ranted on, "What's really weird is that my parents did not seem shocked at all. It was like they expected something like this to happen." She pounded her fist into her hand, adding firmly, "I know there is something they are not telling me."

Her eyes pointed downward now, Vanessa remained silent for another moment and then asked softly, "Aria, do you know anything about your birthparents?"

Aria had known most of her life that she was adopted, but she never felt comfortable of asking about them in distress of hurting the feelings of the people she considered to be her true parents. Now, at her friend's mentioning, Aria felt a growing curiosity of her mysterious biological parents.

"No," Aria answered, simply. "I've never really given it much thought before now. Why? Do you think they would have an explanation for this?"

"I don't know, Aria," Vanessa tried to phrase this as delicately as possible. "I mean its not exactly normal for hair to grow that much in just one night."

_Great, _Aria thought glumly_, now even Vanessa thinks I'm a freak._

Vanessa looked through Aria's eyes as though they were a window to her mind. "I'm not suggesting you're some kind of alien mutant or anything like that. I was just thinking that maybe your parents, your real ones I mean, would have some sort of explanation for this. Maybe their hair grows unnaturally fast too. Sometimes things like this happen that are just out of the ordinary. Despite what people like Walter might think, science doesn't have an explanation for everything."

Aria did not feel certain about diving into supernatural reasonings, but she did not want to debate it either so she just said, "Speaking of Walter, how about we don't mention this to him. He would just think we both lost our minds."

"Yeah, I guess he would, wouldn't he?" Vanessa agreed in a sigh.

The girls arrived at school and proceeded to their lockers as though it were a normal day. Her fantasies of people admiring her new hairstyle sunk to the bottom of the ocean.

As she pulled her textbooks out of her locker, Aria heard a voice call from behind them.

"Hey Aria!"

Aria turned around to see Lacey Goodman heading in her direction, nervously brushing her straight brown hair behind her ears.

"What does she want?" Vanessa wondered aloud in a huff.

Lacey reached them, giving Aria a small smile and said, "I just wanted to say I'm sorry about what Kendal did yesterday. That was a really dirty thing to do. I'm glad to see you got the gum out okay. You didn't even have to get your hair cut. It looks as though nothing even happened."

Aria sighed and muttered, "Yeah, I used peanut butter. Worked like a charm."

Lacey's expression appeared more relieved now. "Well, that good. I'm sure Kendal is sorry and won't do it again. She was just having a really bad hair day and, well, your hair is just so perfect all the time. I'm sure she was just jealous and acted rashly because of it."

Aria feigned a smile telling her it was fine. Lacey then turned around and headed to homeroom.

"Wow, its amazing how Kendal's friends seem to be under the delusion that she actually has a conscious," Vanessa commented once Lacey left. "You know she may be right about one thing though."

Aria gave her a puzzled look "Right about what? Like you just said, Kendal has never felt bad about anything mean she's done, ever."

"I meant about her being jealous," Vanessa pointed out. "Maybe the reason she's especially mean to you is because she's actually envious of you."

Aria snorted at this. "What's there to envy? She's the one everyone wants to be. She the one that has all the cool parties, she's head cheerleader, and she's dating football star, Ian Harris. Why on earth would she be jealous of me?"

Vanessa thought about this then said, "Maybe because you have always had naturally flawless skin and perfect hair, while she has to work for them. I mean, you don't even have to wear make-up. Or if you want to get deeper, it could be that your parents are happily married while her parents got divorced."

Aria remembered when Kendal's parents split up. It was when they were in seventh grade. She and Vanessa were the ones who stood by Kendal and helped her get through it. They even helped Kendal convince her mother not to move to New York as she planned on doing at the time. If only then, Aria had known then what Kendal would turn into now.

"Let's just not talk about Kendal anymore," Aria mumbled, not really wanting to even think of her right now.

Vanessa nodded, proceeding to change the subject. "Hey, do you want to go jogging with me tomorrow morning?"

Every weekend morning, Vanessa went out running to stay in shape for volleyball and for general exercise. On the rarest of occasion, Aria would join her, just as long as she went to bed early enough to get a decent amount of sleep.

"Sure. I guess I could use some fresh air."

The rest of the day seemed to drag by at a slow pace. Fridays are always like that to Aria. It seemed like at least one bad thing happened to her every week. Aria just could not wait to get out of high school, then she would hopefully never have to see Kendal or Derek ever again. She desperately wished to skip to the point of her life where they are just a distant memory.

xXx

Fortunately for Aria and Vanessa, Saturday turned out to be a perfect day for jogging. The sun's rays shined brightly, not a single cloud in the sky, with the temperature in the mid sixties. The two girls jogged side by side, Vanessa pacing herself so Aria could keep up.

"So what do you want to do after this?" Aria panted, starting to feel fatigued.

Vanessa, her voice still energized, replied, "I don't know. Maybe go to the mall?"

Aria did not particularly care for going to the mall on Saturdays, mainly because that is when Derek and Kendal are most likely to go. Aria remembered last year, she went clothes shopping with her mother and ran into Derek. That next Monday, he made fun of her for needing to shop with her mommy.

Aria tried to think of something else she and Vanessa could do. "We could watch a movie at one of our houses."

Vanessa was not fooled by Aria's suggestion. "Are you worried about running into Kendal or something. I swear, Aria. You can't just keep on avoiding her forever."

Aria sighed. "I know, but I can try for the rest of high school."

"You need to learn to stand up to her," Vanessa insisted, "and Derek, too for that matter."

"You know that's hard for me," Aria fell silent for a moment then asked, "Do you really think Kendal is just jealous and that's the only reason she's so horrible to me?"

"To be honest, I really can't think of another possible explanation," Vanessa answered. "She's always been like that. Ever since we first met her in elementary school. She always had to have the best of everything and even then that's not good enough."

"I think its safe to say she has everything now," Aria muttered, bitterly. "Like I pointed out yesterday, she has the perfect boyfriend, and she's pretty much queen of Sheerwood High."

"Yeah, but all that will go away and not matter anymore after we graduate," Vanessa informed as she slowed her pace more for Aria. "Especially her relationship with Ian. Someday he's bound to come to his senses and realize that a poisonous rattlesnake would make a better girlfriend than Kendal. What I'm trying to say is high school romances never last. That's why I don't even bother."

Aria raised her eyebrow as a new subject took her interest. "Are you saying you wouldn't give any of the boys in Sheerwood a chance if they were to ask you out?"

Vanessa shook her head. "No. All the boys there are shallow and immature. If you can think of one that's not, maybe I'd give him a chance."

Aria thought for a moment and then smirked and suggested, "Walter's not like that. Maybe you should date him."

Vanessa just laughed. "I think if Walter and I tried dating we'd end up trying to kill each other, and he's a black belt so he'd probably win."

"Come on, it wouldn't be that bad," Aria protested, also laughing.

"We get in heated arguments over homework assignments," Vanessa reminded her. "He always loses patience with me when I can't figure out the answer as fast as he can."

"I think he just gets annoyed when you ask him to give you the answer without trying to figure it out first," Aria pointed out. "I usually humor him by flipping through the book so it will look like I'm trying. He never gets mad at me over it."

Vanessa sighed. "Yeah, I suppose you're right. From now on, I'll just stare at the book for ten minutes and then ask him for help."

The both laughed more loudly now.

The girls continued to jog and chat about boys, both agreeing that since there were no decent boys in high school besides Walter, they would just wait until college to start dating. Aria felt her legs grow heavy as each step became more and more difficult.

"I think I'm going to head back now," Aria panted as she came to a halt.

"Okay. I'm probably keep going for another half hour. I'll give you a call when I'm done." Vanessa waved goodbye and then started to jog a bit faster while Aria turned around to walk back home.

As Aria approached her home street, Mystic Trail, she spotted Ms. Fleming out in her yard. She noticed that the bricks on Ms. Fleming's house seemed to have even more paint on them than before.

Aria waved. "Hi, Ms. Fleming!"

Ms. Fleming turned around and beamed. "Oh hello, Aria. Did you have a nice little jog?"

"Yeah, it was alright," Aria answered in a heavy breath. "It's just that running's not really my strong point, or any physical activity for that matter. It helped since I was with Vanessa though."

"Well, that's nice. You two have always been so close," Ms. Fleming commented and continued to smile. "So how's school going?"

"Its, um, well its going." Aria just sighed not really wanting to complain about school and the people in her class to her neighbor.

Ms. Fleming opened her mouth, hesitating for a moment before asking, "Aria, would you like to come inside and chat for a moment? I can make you some tea."

"Um, sure," Aria answered, her tone slightly thrown off by the invitation. "I hope you don't mind that I haven't showered yet."

Ms. Fleming put her hand on Aria's shoulder as she approached the front door. "That's alright, dear. I don't mind at all. You don't seem all that sweaty anyway."

The inside of Ms. Fleming's house looked pretty much the same as the outside with different colors of paint on the wall. Aria remembered how much she loved when her parents would drop her off here so Ms. Fleming could babysit her. Ms. Fleming had so many beautiful dresses and she'd let Aria try them on. Aria would pretend to be a princess and imagined a prince that always came to her rescue. Sometimes Vanessa and even Kendal would come and they would all be princesses together. Aria loved these times, even though her friends would often argue over who got to be the oldest princess, next in line for the throne. It always took her half an hour to convince Vanessa and Kendal to just take turns. Despite that, Aria still missed being a little girl playing with both her best friends. She could not help but wonder if thoughts of their childhood ever crossed Kendal's mind.

"Here's your tea, darling." Ms. Fleming placed the tiny teacup on the table in front of Aria.

"Thank you." Aria smiled gratefully as she grabbed a couple sugar cubes from the bowl and stirred them into her tea.

"So," Ms. Fleming sat down at the table across from Aria, "You will be turning sixteen next month, is that right?"

"Yep, October 7," Aria replied blithely as she took a sip of her tea. "It's feels weird its already so close, especially since the school year seems to be going by extra slow."

Ms. Fleming laughed a little, looking out her small square kitchen window. "Funny how time goes by. It seems like just yesterday I saw your parents carrying you around when you were a baby."

Aria thought for a moment. Ms. Fleming appeared to be only thirty if even that, yet she was around here when Aria was a baby, nearly fifteen years ago. Maybe Ms. Fleming is just older than she appears. Aria just realized that she did not even know Ms. Fleming's age. Come to think of it, she did not know much about her nieghbor at all, at least not about her personal life. She could not believe her lack of knowledge of someone she has known her whole life.

"Aria, are you alright?

Aria looked up to see a concerned Ms. Fleming. "Yeah, sorry. I just spaced out."

"Thinking about a particular boy?" Her neighbor asked with a grin as Aria took another sip.

Aria nearly choked on her tea. "Oh, no. Definitely not that."

"Come now," Ms. Fleming urged, as she flipped her long wavy red hair behind her shoulders. "There must be someone that you are interested in. I'm sure there are a lot of nice boys in your school.

_Not really, _Aria thought but decided to say, "I guess there are probably a few, but none of them are interested in me."

"Now, I'm sure that's not true," Ms. Fleming protested. "Perhaps there is someone who admires you but they are too shy to ask you out."

Aria seriously doubted that. She could not think of a single shy boy at Sheerwood High. Maybe since there are so many loud and obnoxious boys there, the quiet ones just go unnoticed. Aria had no idea what to say to this. For some reason, discussing boys always made her uncomfortable.

Ms. Fleming now looked Aria directly in the eye and continued, "Listen to me, Aria. You are almost sixteen. Love is a wonderful thing for someone your age to experience. You don't want to regret any missed opportunities, especially when it comes to love. I would advise you to give someone you might have never considered a chance. You will never know what could come about unless you try. After all, love does work in mysterious ways."

Still without words, Aria just looked down at her cup of tea in deep thoughts. It seemed strange that her lifetime neighbor acted so interested and concerned about her love life. Aria could not help but wonder why Ms. Fleming insisted on giving her this advice. It seemed like the kind of guidance she might get from her…

"Aria?"

Aria stood up, suddenly, feeling her breathing grow heavier. "Um, I actually have to go now. My mom is expecting me for lunch."

Aria bid Ms. Fleming a quick good bye and sprinted back to her own house as her mind raced with her. All her life, Aria knew her parents had adopted her, but they never provided her with any details about who her birthparents were. Most parents, especially single mothers, are not really involved in their children's lives after that after they hand them over to the adoption agency. But what if this situation is different? Aria turned her head gazing back at Ms. Fleming's house with wonder as she slowed her pace towards her own home. What if, unlike most, her real mother choose to remain close by.


	7. Chapter 6 Aria's Theory

_Chapter 6_

_Aria's Theory_

When Aria entered her house, she quickly ran up the stares, grabbed her phone and texted Vanessa, 'call me ASAP!' She knew it would be almost an hour before Vanessa finished running and showered.

Aria dropped her phone on her desk and sank down on her own bed, pondering over her possible birthmother. Honestly, she had no idea how these feelings suddenly surfaced, but she always felt this close connection with her neighbor. It was as though she was somehow connected with Aria's past.

As Aria sat on her bed starring blankly at the ground still in deep thought, her phone rang, reining her mind back to reality. Hastily, she rushed over to her desk snatching it, her heart rate elevating.

"Vanessa!" Aria screeched slightly louder than she intended.

"Hey, what's the emergency?" Vanessa demanded, her voice concerned. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, fine," Aria assured in a ramped tone. "I just need to talk to you about something. Something important. Is it alright if I come over now?"

Vanessa paused to think but then answered, "Um, sure. Mom and Dad are out shopping and Aaron's over at a friend's so we'll have the house to ourselves for a while."

"Great! I'll be over in two minutes." Aria hung up and soared down stairs, finding her mother sitting on the couch reading a cooking magazine.

Aria approached the coach and asked, "Um, Mom, is it okay if I go over to Vanessa's for a while?"

Elizabeth smiled and said, "That's fine. Just be sure you're back in time for dinner."

Aria agreed and quickly rushed across the street and rang the doorbell. It's times like this when Aria was especially glad that her best friend lived right across the road. Most friends did not have this luxury.

Once Vanessa opened the door and let her in, the girls walked upstairs to Vanessa's room, and plopped themselves on her bed.

"Okay, what is going on?" Vanessa asked looking at Aria with a concerned expression.

Now that the moment to talk has finally arrived, Aria found herself at a loss of words. "Let me think of the best way to start this. I think I just had a sudden realization."

Vanessa grinned. "What is it? You actually do like Derek after all?"

Aria rolled her eyes. "No, its not that. There is no way I would _ever _be interested in him! Also, this whole Derek-liking-me and me-liking-him thing you and Walter seem to be amusing yourselves with lately really needs to stop. Okay? I do not like Derek."

Vanessa sighed but her smile did not fade. "Alright I'll meet you halfway and agree that _you_ don't like Derek." As Aria opened her mouth for retort, she quickly asked, "So, what is your sudden realization?"

"Now you made me lose my train of thought," Aria groaned and as Vanessa muttered 'sorry' she regathered them. "Okay, I know this is going to sound completely out there but I think Ms. Fleming might be my biological mother."

Vanessa starred at her blankly. Her mouth started to open but no words made their way out.

Aria stood up, pacing in front of the bed as she continued, "Think about it. She's lived here my whole life. My parents said she moved in that house shortly after they adopted me. She has always been involved in my life and she's giving me advice about having a boyfriend. It almost sounded like maternal advice."

Vanessa looked as though she were considering this theory, but responded with, "That doesn't necessarily mean she's your mother. Since she's known you all your life, she probably just thinks of you as a close friend. Besides, she looks a bit too young to have a teenage daughter."

Aria pounded her fist into her her unwilling to let this go that easily. "That's it! Maybe she was just a teenager when she got pregnant with me and that's why she gave me up for adoption. She was unable to provide a good home for me at the time, but she wanted to stay close by and see me grow up so she decided to live on the same street. It makes sense!"

Vanessa frowned. "You said she was trying to encourage you to date. Aria, I don't think someone who got pregnant in their teens would encourage their daughter to date so young."

Aria plopped herself on Vanessa's bed flat on her back and pointed out, "She's always been a romantic. I remember when I was a little girl she'd always read me fairy tales and talk about how, like those princesses in the stories, I would one day find my true love."

"She doesn't actually think you will find true love at Sheerwood High, does she?" Vanessa asked, her brow raised. "That's the last place you'd find a fairy tale prince."

"Yeah, I agree with you there." Aria starred up at the ceiling and laughed. "Look at us! Usually you're the one with the crazy ideas and I'm trying to talk sense into you."

Vanessa laughed along with her as she considered, "Well, I guess it is possible that Ms. Fleming is your mother. There are some things you have in common. Like you both have flawless, light skin and extremely long hair, though hers is red and yours is golden blonde."

As Aria took in these words she grew even more excited. "Maybe she's knows why my hair grows super fast or my skin doesn't change no matter what I do. Hers just might be the same way. Maybe its just genetics, something we're both born with." Aria sighed as she sat back up. "Oh, I wish I could talk to her about this, but I don't even know if its true."

"Well, is there a way you can find out?"

Aria huffed, blowing a strand of hair from her face. "The only way I can think of is to ask my parents, but I seriously doubt they will tell me anything."

"You could ask Ms. Fleming," Vanessa suggested with a shrug.

Aria tilted her head as she considered this. "Yeah, I suppose I could, but I get the feeling she probably won't admit it either."

Aria tried to imagine what she would do if she were pregnant right now. Would she give her own child away but still want to remain close by? What if that child came to her years later asking questions? What would she say? Aria found this scenario rather difficult to imagine, mainly because she did not even have a boyfriend at the moment.

The two friends spent the rest of the afternoon discussing the possibility of Ms. Fleming being Aria's birthmother. They came to an agreement that the best thing to do was figure out a way to get the truth out of her neighbor. How Aria planned to do that, she had no idea.

"Oh my god!" Aria gasped just realizing the time. "It's almost 6:00. My mom's expecting me for dinner. I have to go."

The girls exchanged goodbyes, saying they will see each other again tomorrow. Alone, Aria walked across the street back to her own home and saw her father standing out in the yard, watching her.

"What are you doing, Dad?" Aria demanded as she walked onto her own yard.

"Mom said you went over to Vanessa's. I was just making sure you got back safely," Ted answered as he put his arm around her. "You really shouldn't walk over there by yourself."

"She only lives right across the street," Aria pointed out in a slightly annoyed tone. "I think I can walk there and back without you having to worry."

Her father just sighed. "You never know these days."

When Ted turned around to walk back in the house, Aria rolled her eyes. What has gotten into her parents lately? First, they want to start walking her to school, now she can't even go over across the street to Vanessa's without them feeling the need to watch her, or even start walking with her as her father just implied. To Aria, it was starting to seem like the closer she got to age sixteen, the stranger people around her acted, or at least her parents and Ms. Fleming (who might be a parent, too). Life for her appeared to be becoming less and less normal by the day now.

As Aria sat down for dinner she continued to ponder. Even if Ms. Fleming was not her real mother she still seemed to know something that Aria did not. She recalled Ms. Fleming's worried tone that night she came home with her new haircut. It just hit Aria that her neighbor never said anything about her hair miraculously growing back the way it did. With this into consideration, she was sure Ms. Fleming at least knew something about her that she was unwilling to share.

After a few moments of silence, Aria broke it asking, "Mom, how long have you known Ms. Fleming?"

Elizabeth, without looking up from her dinner plate, responded, "Since she moved in not long after we got you, sweetie. Why do you ask?"

"Just curious. Do you know anything about her family or whether she use to have a boyfriend before she moved here?" Aria pressured on.

If Aria could at least get her parents talking about Ms. Fleming's past maybe she could find out if she even had children in the past. That would be a start.

This time Ted answered, "I know she has three sisters, but I'm not sure about a boyfriend. If she did we never met him."

Elizabeth gave her husband a sharp waring look which Aria did not miss. One thing she knew for sure was that both of her parents were keeping something from her about where she came from and Ms. Fleming. She had to get it out of them.

Aria took in a deep inhale and then asked with caution, "Mom, or Dad, where did I come from?" Aria paused to reword the question more specifically. "Did you get me from an adoption agency or did my real mother give me to you directly?"

Ted laughed, shrugging it off. "We've told you this before, Honey. We found you in a basket on our front porch when we first moved into this house."

Aria rolled her eyes at the same silly little story her parents told her when she was a little girl. Clearly they had no intention of telling her anything. There is still someone she could try… Ms. Fleming.

xXx

The next day, Aria got up earlier than usual and decided to go have a little chat with Ms. Fleming. As she approached her colorful house, Aria noticed it seemed rather quiet. Hoping she was not still sleeping, Aria rang the doorbell. No answer. Aria tried three more times before giving up.

Aria wondered where Ms. Fleming could be. She saw her small yellow Slugbug still parked in the driveway. Perhaps, she just went out for a walk..

"Hey Aria!"

Aria turned to see Vanessa out in her yard. "Oh, hey Vanessa!"

Vanessa walked over to her best friend. "I saw you walking over to Ms. Fleming's. I just wanted to let you know I saw her walking down the street with a suitcase."

Aria walked up to Vanessa's house and commented, "That's weird. She did not say anything to me yesterday about taking a vacation." Aria let out a deep exhale as she looked up and down the street. "I wonder where she went."

"Maybe to visit one of her sisters," Vanessa suggested. "How many does she have again?"

"Three," Aria recalled what her father said last night. "Don't you think its strange that we have never met or even seen any of her sisters?"

Vanessa just shrugged. "I suppose, but they probably live in more fun places to visit than Nebraska. That could be why she always goes to visit them instead of the other way around."

"That's another thing," Aria thought aloud. "We don't even know where they live. I'm sure Ms. Fleming's never told me."

Aria sighed as neither she or Vanessa seemed able to come up with some explanation. She had become accustomed to her mysterious neighbor making random unexpected trips. Still, Aria just wished that for once, Ms. Fleming would tell her where she went. There's just so much wonder about her neighbor down the street of whom she has known her whole life.


	8. Chapter 7 The Substitute

_Chapter 7_

_The Substitute_

Aria had not seen Ms. Fleming in weeks. She could not recall her neighbor ever taking this much time to visit her sisters. Something was different but she had not idea what. As she walked with Vanessa to homeroom that day, she continued to ponder on it.

"Too bad Mrs. Norbert had to have the baby now. If she held it in a couple more weeks, she could have shared a birthday with you, Aria," Vanessa said as she and Aria sat down next to Walter in homeroom.

Aria just recalled hearing, when she and Vanessa first arrived that the building this morning, that Mrs. Norbert went into labor on Saturday. On Sunday morning, she gave birth to a baby girl and named her Sarah.

"She'd probably have bad luck if she was born on my birthday," Aria grumbled as she slumped down at her usual desk in homeroom.

"How so?" Vanessa inquired, sitting on the desk beside her.

Aria rested her head on her head as she spoke. "Well, let's see. She will have trouble fitting in high school, no boys will be interested in her, and she will never be invited to any cool parties."

Walter, sitting behind Vanessa, looked up from his textbook and commented, "I'm not quite sure I understand your logic there, Aria. What day you are born on does not have any impact on what your life will be like unless you buy into all the astrology nonsense."

Vanessa turned to face him, giving him an exasperated look. "The day you were born can have impact on your life and what kind of person you will be. Astrology is not complete nonsense. Like I'm a Capricorn and according to astrology we are very independent and strong friends."

"She right about the friendship part," Aria muttered, not wanting to get too involved in this debate.

"Yes, but that has nothing to do with when she was born. Your life is influenced by the choices you make and the people around you." He turned back to Vanessa. "Honestly Vanessa, next you're going to tell me you believe in psychics."

"Well, unlike you, I actually have an open mind," Vanessa retorted, fuming up. "I actually did go see a psychic at he mall a couple weeks ago. There are books on both psychics and astrology you know."

"There are also books and Greek mythology and fairy tales but that doesn't make them factual," Walter pointed out.

Vanessa's voice heated up even more. "Just because its something you don't understand, Walter, doesn't mean it's not a fact."

"Well, no, but if it's not proven as a fact then it's not a fact." Walter sighed leaning back in his chair with his arms folded. "Just out of curiosity, what did you asked this supposed psychic?"

Vanessa looked up as she recalled her experience. "Well, first I asked about any potential love interest I might have in the future."

"Naturally," Walter consented though raised his brow. "And what did she say, tall dark and handsome?"

Vanessa rolled her eyes. "No, Walter. She's not like one of those phony psychics from the movies that just say what you want to hear. In fact she told me that the guy I am going to end up with will be someone intelligent."

"Intelligent, huh. That is quite interesting," Aria muttered, moving her eyes back and forth between the two of them.

Both her friends turned their heads, looking at her curiously. Vanessa then asked, "Are you implying something, Aria?"

Aria thought for a moment. For weeks it seems, she had been listening to both Vanessa and Walter make comments about her and Derek possibly liking each other. That particular topic always made her uncomfortable so now Aria felt tempted by this opportunity to impose the same feelings on her friends. However, the more Aria thought about it, the more worried she got that she would somehow make the fight worse.

"Nothing, I just thought it was interesting," Aria commented dully. "Did she tell you anything else about your future?"

Vanessa's expression softened as she gazed up in remembrance. "Yeah, she also just told me I would forget something important when I needed it most. I guess its possible she's a fake," she turned her head back to Walter and added more harshly, "but that does not mean there aren't any legitimate psychics out there."

Walter let out an exasperated sigh. "Whatever, Vanessa, I guess you're entitled to your own beliefs. I'm going to go back to reviewing for our Biology test."

Vanessa frowned. "Why are you reviewing that now? The test isn't until next Monday."

Walter shook his head. "No, the test is this Monday, today."

Vanessa's eyes grew big as she looked over to Aria, who nodded weakly in agreement.

"Oh no!" Vanessa pounded her head against her desk. "I haven't studied at all! There's no way I can pass."

"Well, it looks like your psychic was right," Walter commented to Vanessa. "You did forget about important information when you most needed it."

"Oh shut up, Walter!" Vanessa snapped not even looking at him. "What am I going to do?"

For a moment, Walter looked as though he may snap back, but then he just sighed. "Look, it doesn't seem like our substitute is going to show up anytime soon so you can use this next class period to study. Then, since we have geometry together and today we have a study hall, I can help you review then. Alright?"

Vanessa smiled as her breathing grew more relaxed. "Thanks Walter. I really should start being nicer to you."

"You've been saying that for over a year now," Walter commented though still grinned.

Vanessa stood up, facing the door. "Well, I guess I'll go get my notes. Be right back."

As soon as she walked out of the classroom, Walter let out another deep breath. "Man, it is really difficult to reason with her sometimes."

"Oh, come on," Aria deduced as she rested her head on her hand. "That's not entirely true."

"You're right," Walter consented but then added with a grin, "She's impossible to reason with anytime."

Aria could not help but laugh.

"She has gotten a lot better though with the supernatural thing though," Aria pointed out. "She use to not go out during a full moon because she was worried about werewolves."

"I can believe that," Walter muttered.

Aria recalled years ago in elementary school she, Kendal, and Vanessa planned on being the Power Puff Girls for Halloween. That year on October 31 just happened to have a full moon so Vanessa refused to go. Kendal grew furious since they had coordinated their costumes and the two of them fought for weeks over the matter. Aria remembered being afraid that they would never make up. When Aria thought of times such as this, she wondered if life was better this way without Kendal. As much as Vanessa bickered with Walter, it was still nothing compared to the heated battles she would get into with Kendal.

"So are you okay with the material in Biology," Walter asked, as her mind returned to reality.

Aria shrugged. "I think I'll pass."

She, however, secretly planned to do her last minute studying during History. If Derek and Ian can text throughout the entire class period without being noticed, then Aria should have no problem hiding the fact that she's studying for another class.

xXx

When Aria walked into her English classroom that afternoon, she spotted a woman with long dark wavy hair standing by Mrs. Norbert's desk, gently tapping her deep red polished nails on the desk in a surreal rhythmic way. Aria figured this was the substitute and she either must have run late or forgotten that she was suppose to come in today.

As Aria sat down at her usual desk towards the back left corner, she turned her gaze to the front to get a better look at this new teacher. She appeared tall and slender, wearing a dark red blouse. Her skin was probably as pale as Aria's, but she was still incredibly gorgeous, like a model. Her beauty seemed almost unnatural, the kind of appearance seen on television but rarely in ordinary people.

The woman walked in front of the teacher's desk and tilted her chin upward as she spoke, "Hello, class. I am Ms. Malone. I will be your substitute while Mrs. Norbert is on maternity leave. First, let's take attendance quickly and then we will begin."

She casually held out the attendance sheet in from of her face and began calling out names rather quickly.

"Thomas Bradley."

"Here."

Aria wondered if they were going to continue with _Romeo and Juliet _or finally start something new. She had to admit, she was getting pretty sick of this story.

"Ian Harris."

"Here."

"Derek James."

"Present."

"Kendal Lewis."

"Here."

Ms. Malone continued to speak at a rapid pace. She did not even bother to look at the students who answered.

"Aria Rosenberg."

"Here."

This teacher did, however, look at Aria. Aria could have sworn she saw a brief sly smile flicker on the corner of Ms. Malone's lips before she resumed her role taking. Aria decided to shrug it off. She must just be imagining things.

Once Ms. Malone finished attendence she asked, "So what are we studying in this class currently?"

Most of the students acted shy around the new teacher, slouching back in their chairs, avoiding eye contact. Aria did not blame them. This woman did seem a bit intimidating.

Kendal finally spoke out, "We're reading _Romeo and Juliet_. We've been on that story since this school year started."

"Interesting," Ms. Malone commented. "I never read that."

This time Derek chimed in, "Really, you're an English teacher and you've never read _Romeo and Juliet?_"

The teacher shook her head, not bothered by his tone. "Why don't you tell me what this story is about and I will see if it interest me."

Derek then explained that the story revolved around two teenagers from feuding families who fell and love and later killed themselves at the end. Ms. Malone's expression did not change as he spoke.

"Hmm, that does not interest me," she stated flatly. "I think with this class we will try going in a different direction. Instead of typical stories most teachers use, we will study fairy tales."

The class looked at each other confused. Aria herself did not expect this to be the next lesson of all things. At least it should not be too difficult, she hoped.

Kendal leaned over and whispered to Ian, "I think she has us confused with a class of first graders."

"Actually, Ms. Lewis. I believe fairy tales are valuable for people of all ages, especially the way we are going to study them," Ms. Malone stated quite sternly. "If you are going to criticize the lesson then perhaps you should leave."

Kendal looked up at this teacher, her cheeks red as an apple. "I wasn't trying to, um… I was… um, I'm sorry."

Aria grinned at Kendal's reaction. She was starting to like Ms. Malone a little more now. She did wonder, though, how did the substitute hear what Kendal said to Ian since the two were sitting close to the back. Aria barely heard Kendal from two desks away.

Having the class' undivided attention, Ms. Malone continued, "The first fairy tale we will discuss is _Sleeping Beauty_. Now, who can tell what this story is about? How about you, Mr. Harris."

Ian, who had just rested his head on his desk, looked up, confused. "Um, let's see, Sleeping Beauty. Uh, there's a princess, she gets put in a comma or something and a prince comes and kisses her and she wakes up."

"The prince risks his life to get to the princess." Ms. Malone seemed to make Ian nervous as she looked down on him. "Tell me, Mr. Harris. Would you risk your life to save the woman you love."

"Um," Ian looked over to his girlfriend who gave the same sharp look she had given him during Ms. Norbert's discussion. "Yeah…sure."

Derek rolled his eyes at his best friend. At his gesture, Ms. Malone's attention turned to him.

"And what about you, Mr. James?" she asked. "Would you risk your life for the princess?"

Derek shrugged. "Depends."

"And what would that depend on, Mr. James?" Ms. Malone pushed, her deep brown eyes pointed directly at him.

"If she's hot."

Most of the class laughed while Aria just rolled her eyes.

Like Aria, Ms. Malone was not amused by Derek's comment. "You know, Mr. James. You really should take this lesson more seriously. You never know what decisions lie ahead for you in the future."

"Right." Derek rolled his eyes tilting his head back as though he were trying to entertain the class. "Someday, I going to rescue a princess from a tower, give her true loves kiss, and together we will live happily ever after."

Ms. Malone's eyes seemed to grow darker all of the sudden. "I don't appreciate sarcasm, Mr. James. Now, if you don't mind, I would like a serious answer to my question."

Derek's smirk disappeared. "Alright, no then. One girl would not be worth all that trouble."

"You're going to be a bachelor for the rest of your life with that attitude," Kendal informed him, serious temperament in her tone.

"And I'm looking forward to it," Derek responded with a grin as Kendal rolled her eyes.

"Enough," Ms. Malone interjected, holding her hand up. "Well, Mr. James. I do appreciate your honesty."

Was Aria imagining this or did Ms. Malone seemed satisfied with his answer? Maybe she just did not believe in true love and the whole point of this lesson was to show that fairy tales send the wrong message.

"Now, Ms. Rosenberg," Ms. Malone turned to Aria. "How do you think the story of _Sleeping Beauty_ should end?"

"Um…" Aria pulled her thoughts in, slightly thrown off by the question. "I guess with the prince rescuing the princess and they live happily ever after."

Ms. Malone lifted her eye brow. "And the evil fairy is defeated?"

Aria's voice remained weak as she replied, "Well, yeah. I suppose."

"That seem like an awfully close minded thing to say, Ms. Rosenberg." She walked over to the teacher's desk and jotted something down. Detention."

Aria opened her mouth but could not think of what to even say to this situation. Was she actually getting detention just for answering a question?

"Hold on a second."

Aria turned her head surprised to see that it was Derek who spoke.

Derek demanded, "You're giving her detention for answering the question after you just said you were happy with me for giving my opinion? That doesn't make any sense!"

Ms. Malone looked at him sharply. "What doesn't make sense is that for someone who just flat out stated he would not risk his life for a woman, you seem awfully quick to come to this particular girl's defense. Detention, Mr. James."

"Of course," Derek muttered, throwing his hand up in the air.

"Wait," Aria pleaded, desperately. "Ms. Malone, I'm sor….

Ms. Malone just shook her head. "I'm sorry, but that's my final word. Detention.


	9. Chapter 8 Detention

_ Chapter 8_  
><em> Detention<em>

During Band, Aria re-played last period's events over and over in her head, trying to make sense of it. She could not come up with a possible reason for her detention, or even Derek's for that matter. Why did Ms. Malone decide to dislike her?

"Aria," Mr. Spooner looked down at her from the podium. "Your solo?"

"Oh, right, sorry." Aria quickly lifted her up flute and began to play.

Last week, during after school practice, the flutes were tested to see who could best play the solo and Aria was chosen. She desperately did not want to let Mr. Spooner down. Aria could not bare to disappoint yet another teacher.

After Band let out Walter looked at Aria concerned as the two put away their interments. "Is something wrong, Aria? You seem a bit out of it."

"It's just, well…" Aria felt intense shame but she figured she may as well tell him. "I got detention today in English."

Walter readjusted his glasses as he gave her a startled look. "Detention, you? That's got to be a first. What did you get detention for?"

"That's just it," Aria stammered, raising her voice. "I have no idea. All I did was answer a question and I guess it wasn't what she wanted to hear." She paused to let out a huff. "Did she have a discussion with your class over Sleeping Beauty?"

Walter looked up as he recalled, "No. All she did with us was read aloud, Hansel and Gretel, and then had us write a summary about it. I must say, she's a pretty strange character. When she talked about the story, it seemed like she was pushing us to side with the witch."

"That's exactly what I got in trouble for!" Aria exclaimed. "Saying the evil fairy should be defeated." She paused and then added more calmly, "Maybe this is just part of the lesson she's trying to teach us, that there are two sides to every story."

Walter frowned. "I suppose, but she still should not have given you detention for not picking up on that."

"Yeah, I guess," Aria muttered as she replayed the incident yet again. "You know, I bet it was Derek's comments that put her in a bad mood in the first place."

Aria could not believe how easy it was to just turn to blame to Derek. He seemed to be the source of the majority of her high school miseries.

She ranted on, furiously, "She did not even hesitate to give him detention after he, um…"

"After he what?" Walter inquired, looking her directly in the eye.

Aria felt a small twinge of guilt once she replayed that part in her mind. "He, um… well, I guess he sort of stood up for me when Ms. Malone gave me detention."

Walter raised his eyebrow and smirked. "Really, he stood up for you, huh."

"Okay I know what you're thinking, but it's not what it seems," Aria protested, as she felt her cheeks start to burn. "Besides, detention means nothing Derek. He gets in trouble all the time for rude comments to teachers. He probably just did it out of habit."

"If you say so," Walter mumbled, still wearing his grin.

Aria let out one final huff before saying bye to Walter and dreadfully making her way to the English classroom. Having never had detention, she was unsure of how long they normally lasted, but she planned on meeting up with Vanessa after her volleyball practice. When she arrived back at the classroom, she found the door closed and Derek sitting out in the hallway casually with his legs stretched out in front of him.

Once Derek saw Aria approaching, he informed her, "Ms. Malone wants us to wait here so she can talk to us separately."

"Um, okay," Aria responded nervously as sat down next to Derek and waited. Why does she want to talk to us individually?

After a few moments of silence, Aria couldn't help but blurt out, "Do you know why we got detention?"

"Easy," Derek replied, putting his hands up against the wall so he could rest his head. "She's insane."

"Shhh!" Aria waved up her hand frantically as she hushed him. "She's in the classroom, remember? She might hear you, and then we will both get into even more trouble!"

Derek shrugged, indifferently. "Relax, she can't hear us out here."

Aria recalled, "She did hear what Kendal said in the back of the classroom, remember?"

Derek still did not seemed concerned. "Yeah, well, we're already in trouble."

Aria leaned more against the wall and sighed. "Well, I'd like to get back on her good side if possible."

Derek looked at her curiously. "Why do you care so much? It's not going to matter what teacher's think of you once high school is over."

"Why do you care so much about being popular?" Aria shot back. "That won't matter either once we're out of high school."

Derek turned his, now gazing straight ahead. "I don't care, really."

"Yeah right," Aria huffed.

Derek looked at her. "It's the truth. If I cared more, don't you think I would be dating a cheerleader? Ever since we got to high school, Kendal's been telling me I need to get a girlfriend, and I've ignored her. I'm just all about living life the way I want to."

Aria did not bother to respond. She couldn't tell whether or not Derek was being sincere. She could not deny the fact that Derek always did what he wanted when he wanted to do it. He would never put up with Kendal's bossiness the way Ian does. Perhaps guys are just naturally more popular without having to put in as much effort as girls do.

After a few moments of silence Derek asked, "Hey, do you remember that English assignment Mrs. Norbert gave us, the one about whether we would die for someone we love?"

"Sure," Aria answered with hesitation, unsure of where he was going with this. "Why?"

"What did you put?" Derek asked.

Aria shifted in discomfort as she pointed her eyes downward. "I, um… Well, I said no."

To her surprise, Derek gave her not his usual smirky grin, but just a simple smile. "Its nothing to be embarrassed about. I said no, too."

"Great, is that supposed to make me feel better," Aria muttered without thinking.

Luckily for her, Derek just laughed. "So why did you say no?"

Aria actually looked directly at him, though only briefly before admitting, "Well, the reason I gave Mrs. Norbert was that I value my own life, but Walter helped me come up with that answer. The truth is I think I would be too afraid."

"Hey, at least you were somewhat honest," Derek consoled in a reasoning tone. "The truth is probably most people here would be too scared. Anyone who actually put yes has no idea what they're talking about."

"So why did you say no?" Aria asked.

"Because after seeing how Ian is with Kendal, I promised myself I would never get that wrapped up over a woman."

"Nice," Aria commented. "Though I do see your point. Being around those two would definitely make me think twice about even going into a serious relationship."

"I wouldn't even call what they have a relationship," Derek went on. "Just mistress and servant boy."

Aria chuckled at that comment.

Derek laughed along with her. "I honestly have no idea what he sees in her. You've known Kendal for a while. Is there another side to her that isn't the Wicked Witch of the East or West, or whatever she's called."

Aria sighed as she considered, "Well, she does have her softer moments from time to time," she looked directly at him and smirked, "but keep in mind the last time I actually saw one was about two years ago."

As they both continued to laugh, Aria felt an odd tingle in her stomach. For the first time she could recall, she was actually having a normal conversation with Derek James, no teasing or mocking, just plain chatting. This thought started to make Aria feel a bit uncomfortable but, somehow, at the same time this situation felt quite natural. She could not explain the feeling she had at the moment.

Derek opened his mouth to say something else, but was stopped once Ms. Malone opened her classroom door.

"Mr. James, I will speak with you first," the teacher stated firmly, holding the door open wider. "Ms. Rosenberg, please wait out here."

As she waited, Aria's anxiety grew greater and greater as she had no idea what to except. She could only imagine how dreadful it was. When she use to think of detention, she thought of dungeons and prisons, a place very bad people are condemned to even though she knew these thoughts were unrealistic. Powerless to do anything else, Aria sat nervously and waited, her palms beginning to sweat.

After a few minutes, Derek came back out.

"What did you talk about?" Aria demanded nervously.

Derek shrugged as though it were nothing big. "She basically just said I was being a hypocrite for defending you and that I should stick to my original beliefs. Oh, and I shouldn't get so wrapped up over girls at my age."

Aria smiled weakly. "I guess you won't have a problem with that."

Derek grinned and then said, "You got that right. Well, good luck. See you later."

"See you." Aria waved her hand nervously, almost forgetting that Ms. Malone was expecting her to come in next.

"Ms. Rosenberg, I'm waiting," she called from her teacher's desk.

Aria breathed slowly as she entered the classroom prepared to apologize. To her surprise, Ms. Malone smiled at her, pleasantly, and just said, "Please have a seat, Aria."

As Ms. Malone motioned her arm to the middle desk of the front row Aria sat down. She contemplated on speaking, but then thought best let Ms. Malone begin the conversation on her terms.

The substitute continued to smile as she spoke, "I just want to start by saying I'm sorry about the misunderstanding. I did not intend for you to believe you were in serious trouble. You see, I'm not from around here so I don't have a full understanding of all the customs yet. I simply just wanted to talk with you, Aria, on a one on one basis, nothing more."

Aria sighed, relieved, though her anxiety did not completely evaporate. "That's fine. So, um, What did you want to talk about."

She folded her hands just underneath her chin. "Today's lesson. Fairy Tales are just fascinating, don't you think? There's just so much you can learn from them."

Aria nodded prepared to agree no matter what. Ms. Malone was starting to remind her of Ms. Fleming. Aria recalled Ms. Fleming passionately reading her fairy tales to her as a little girl. Come to think of it, she still brings these children's stories up quite often.

Ms. Malone continued. "One thing you must understand, Aria, is that there are two sides to every story. Most people just pick who they assume to be the good guys and side with them. They do not even consider how the people they deem to be evil might feel or the reason for their actions. Do you understand, Aria?"

Aria nodded even though she felt somewhat confused.

Ms. Malone beamed and continued, "Tell me, Aria, why do you believe the evil fairy placed a curse on the princess in Sleeping Beauty?"

"Well, I guess she was upset that she wasn't invited to the celebration," Aria responded feeling sudden understanding.

Ms. Malone gazed at her more intently and pressed, "And do you know how this supposedly evil fairy might have felt?"

Aria looked down in deep thought as she spoke more confidently, "She must have felt left out… rejected. She probably spent a lot of time wondering why she was not included."

Satisfied, Ms. Malone leaned back in her chair. "Well, it seems you do understand after all. Have you ever been excluded from something you wanted to go to?"

Aria let out a hollow laugh. "Yes, all the time, actually. You see, there are these parties that all the cool people get invited to almost every week and I, of course, never get invited. What makes it worse is that the girl who usually puts on the party, Kendal, use to be one of my best friends. Now, it just seems like she's determined to make my life miserable. At the beginning of the year, her boyfriend invited me to a party, but then Kendal comes up and tells me there are not enough plates, or something stupid like that."

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm trying to get you to understand," Ms. Malone explained. "The royal family and fairies invited might seem like the good guys in the story but they might be no different then what you would call the popular crowd here. They might have chosen to exclude the other fairy simply because she was different."

"You're probably right," Aria agreed and then added bitterly, " And you know what, I bet that princess grows up to be exactly like Kendal."

Ms. Malone let out a soft chuckle. "You could indeed be right there. I'm glad you seem to understand my point."

Aria paused for a moment and then asked, "What made you think about this in the first place?"

Ms. Malone sighed as she tapped her pen on the desk. "Well, I suppose I too know the feeling of rejection. You see, many years ago there was this grand celebration that all my sisters got invited to, except for me of course."

Aria's jaw dropped. "That's terrible! Your own sisters?" As the teacher nodded she then asked, "Did they give you a reason you could not come?"

Ms. Malone shrugged. "They simply said there were not enough dishes."

"That's like Kendal's plate excuse," Aria snorted in disgust.

Ms. Malone's eyes turned to the clock on the wall. "Well, I best let you go now. It really was nice chatting with you, Aria."

"Yeah, you too," Aria replied blithely as she stood up to leave. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yes, we will see each other again soon," Ms. Malone replied more quietly as she returned her gaze to the stack of papers on her desk.

Aria could not believe how well that went. She never dreamed of having a teacher she could actually identify with. Most authority figures in the school act oblivious to the high school drama or they just did not care.

"Hey, Aria!"

Well, that was good timing, Aria thought to herself as it appeared Vanessa just finished up with volleyball practice. Still in her gym shorts with her red hair pulled back, her best friend waved and ran up to her.

"Hi, Vanessa!" Aria replied cheerfully once she got closer.

Vanessa backed away looking befuddled. "You're awfully perky for someone who just had their first detention."

Aria smiled. "It wasn't really detention. Ms. Malone just wanted to talk to me. Besides, how did you even know about that?"

"Walter told me." She then looked directly at Aria and grinned. "He also told me about your Knight in Shining Armor."

Now it became Aria's turn to look confused. "Knight in Shining Armor? What are you talking about?"

"Derek, of course!" Vanessa blurted. "Walter said he stood up for you in that class and got detention for it."

Aria rolled her eyes and muttered, "He would tell you about that." She then added with more volume, "Look, I told Walter the same thing. Derek doesn't care about getting in trouble. When we were out in the hall waiting, he didn't seem upset at all about getting detention."

She briefly considered telling her best friend about the conversation she had with Derek while waiting but concluded it would only make Vanessa less likely to drop this whole Derek-liking-her thing. It probably would not even matter if Aria explained that he made it quite clear he had no interest in pursuing a serious relationship.

"Well, anyway, what did Ms. Malone want to talk about?" Vanessa asked changing the subject.

"She just wanted me to understand that there are two sides to every story, including fairy tales," Aria explained. "In Sleeping Beauty, she helped me put myself in the evil fairies place and imagine the good guys in the story to be like the popular crowd in school and the princess, Kendal."

"So let me get this straight," Vanessa concluded as the two walked towards the school exit, "In your little scenario of this fairy tale, Kendal would the princess and you would be the fairy that places a deadly curse on her?"

Aria stopped and frowned. "Well…um, okay, I just realized how terrible that sounds."

"Oh, I'm not judging," Vanessa added quickly. "I mean, after all, it is Kendal."

Aria looked at her, raising her eyebrow. "Would you do it?"

Vanessa looked and commented jokingly, "Well, after seeing how Kendal is now, it would be kind of hard to resist."

"Maybe you should be the evil fairy and I can just be your minion," Aria jested.

They both burst out laughing as they strolled to their houses.

"So it looks like not only are we the social outcast, but we have to be the villains too," Vanessa concluded with a grin. "Life is just so unfair."

Aria sighed. "Well, its just a fairy tale. It's not like any of it is real."

xXx

The next day, for the first time ever, Aria looked forward to going to school. Something about Ms. Malone enthralled her, but she could not explain what. Never before, had she been that captivated by the way a teacher taught. She found herself almost jogging as she and Vanessa walked their usual route to school.

"Wow, for once I can barely keep up with you," Vanessa commented, slightly out of breath. "What is the rush? Is it that teacher?"

"Yeah," Aria answered, recalling Vanessa has not had class with Ms. Malone. "I can't wait for you to see what she's like. She's fascinating to listen to. Just remember, she wants us to keep an open mind."

"Well, I think if I imagine I'm the bad guy trying to get back at Kendal for something, that should be pretty easy," Vanessa concluded.

Aria grinned. She had a feeling her best friend was going to enjoy Ms. Malone's class. However, once the two girls arrived at the school, Aria found that Vanessa will not have the opportunity to experience her teaching as this mysterious teacher had apparently vanished. Aria's face fell when she heard the news and saw for herself that she was gone.

As she sat down in her usual desk in homeroom, Aria looked around at her classmates. No one else seemed to notice or care that Ms. Malone was gone. It almost seemed as though she had never been there at all, like a dream.


	10. Chapter 9 Edmund

_Chapter 9_

_Edmund_

The more time that passed, the less Aria thought about Ms. Malone. Having a teacher that actually seemed to understand her seemed like a far-fetched dream. Now that everything at Sheerwood felt normal again, Aria had no choice to accept that life is what it is. Still, she wished something good or at least interesting would happen to her.

"Congratulations on making first chair, Aria!" Vanessa cheered that morning when Aria told her.

Yesterday, during after school Band practice, they had a chair test to see who was the most excelled Flute player. Once again, Aria had made first chair. It seemed strange to her that she did not spend hours practicing as some of her fellow classmates did yet she somehow consistently held the top spot. Aria, however, decided best not to question the natural talents she did have.

"Your parents sure picked out the right name for you," Vanessa went on as she moved around books in her locker. "Doesn't aria mean something to do with music?"

"Actually an aria is a solo performed in an opera," Walter informed as he pulled his Latin textbook out from his own locker.

Vanessa closed her locker door and shot him an exasperated look. "Do you know everything, Walter? I swear, I don't think we've ever come across a subject you weren't knowledgeable about."

Walter rolled his eyes but still grinned. "Nobody knows everything, Vanessa."

"Oh, yeah. Tell me something you don't know," Vanessa demanded as she folded her arms.

"Okay, lets see," Walter thought for a moment. "I don't know all the rules of physics, whether or not it is possible for there to be more than one dimension in our universe, who wrote the epic poem, _Beowulf_, or…" he paused looking straight ahead, curiously, "or who that guy over there is."

Confused, Aria and Vanessa turned around to who Walter was talking about. They spotted an unfamiliar student who had to be the most beautiful boy Aria had ever seen in her life. He had golden, wavy, blonde hair that went to his ears, he wore a rich blue dress shirt and jeans, and when he smiled his teeth seemed to almost sparkle. Aria's mind once again sailed into dreamland as the gravity holding her feet down seemed to vanish.

Once Aria snapped out of her trance she rolled her eyes and grumbled, "Great, more man candy for the girls here to drool over."

Sure enough, every single girl in the hall gazed at this boy as he walked. Karin's tongue looked like it was about to fall out of her mouth. She had to realize how ridiculous she looked though she didn't really stand out amongst the other girls. The odd thing about this situation was that the boy did not seem to pay these girls any attention. He did not even bat them an eye. But when he reached Aria, he smiled and winked at her before moving on. Aria's heart seemed to jump a mile and she drew in a sharp breath as he walked by.

Vanessa took note of her reaction and grinned. "You were saying?"

Aria sighed. "Well, I suppose he is pretty cute, but it doesn't matter. Once he realizes who's popular and who's not he won't want anything to do with me."

"I wonder where he came from," Vanessa commented, her eyes gazing in the direction he walked off in.

Aria merely shrugged forcing herself not to care.

The three of them walked into homeroom where their new substitute, a five foot four bald headed man called Mr. Stone, waited to take role. Mr. Stone had to be the most dull teacher Aria has ever had. He spoke in this low pitched drone that could put anyone to sleep and all their lessons revolved around the essence of grammar. She recalled a week ago when this teacher first arrived, she had hoped he would disappear just as Ms. Malone did. However, each day when they entered the classroom, they found Mr. Stone sitting in the same position in the teacher's desk wearing his thick rimmed glasses, reading over that day's lecture. Aria supposed, at this point, she would just have to stick it out until Mrs. Norbert was off her maternity leave. She could not believe she actually missed the lessons on _Romeo and Juliet._

Just as Mr. Stone prepared to call out names, Principal Whiteman, a six foot tall African American man, came in and announced, "Class, we have a new student. This is Edmund Calloway. Please make him feel welcome."

With that he abruptly left the room as Edmund walked in. Once again, all the girl's eyes fell upon him. The boys, on the other hand, just appeared jealous. Derek even looked angry for a reason unknown to Aria. This new mysterious boy, just as before, paid no attention to any other girl, his enchanting golden eyes only on Aria.

Edmund approached the empty desk on the other side of Aria with his charming smile. "Excuse me, Miss. Is this seat occupied?"

Aria shook her head too startled by his politeness to say anything. Good manners just happened to be an extremely rare quality for a high school boy, especially at Sheerwood.

"Do you have Latin, next?" Edmund inquired to Aria.

Still speechless, Aria managed a nod. She could feel her cheeks starting to burn.

Edmund kept his gaze intently on her as he spoke. "Do you mind if I have a look at your schedule?"

"Um, sure." Aria fished around her backpack for it. "Here it is."

Edmund briefly glanced at it. "Well, it appears that we have all of the same classes. Would you care to do me the honor of showing me where everything is?"

"Uh… year, okay," Aria answered quickly trying not to sound too eager or desperate.

Aria did not know which was more difficult to believe, the fact that this new boy happened to be in every single one of her classes or how much interest he took in only her. To her own astonishment, Aria's luck with boys finally seemed to turn around. She knew it was illogical to think like this but, in her mind, she began to picture the two of them as a couple.

Aria tried to snap herself back into reality. After all, she just met Edmund. This is not like a fairy tale when a man and woman meet and then a few moments later decide to get married. That kind of thing just did no happen in reality. Aria still could not help but hope for something to happen, especially since Edmund seemed so perfect, almost like a prince in a fairy tale.

Since Aria and Edmund had every single class with each other they were together the whole day, which indeed made it seem almost magical. The entire day, Edmund acted like a gentleman to her by offering to carry her books, pulling out the chair for her overtime she sat down, and even insisting on standing in the lunch line so he could bring her food to her.

Every other girl starred at Aria with their green envious eyes, especially Kendal who would glare at them every time they came into her sight. Aria did not understand why. Did Kendal forget that she already has a boyfriend or did she simply just not want Aria to be happy? For once though, Aria did not feel concern about Kendal. She could not care less about what Kendal thought of her right now, not to mention the rest of the school. The only thing on Aria's mind at the moment is Edmund.

xXx

Once school let out, Derek went to drop his backpack off by his locker before heading to football practice. He had grown so annoyed with the new kid, tackling students and kicking a football with all his strength sounded really good at the moment. Derek did not know why, but the way every single girl at school seemed to fawn over this random new kid and also how he followed Aria around like a puppy dog all day really peeved him, especially the last part. He had known Aria since they were in Kindergarten and he never perceived her as the type of girl that would lose her mind and fall head over heals in love with some phony boy that rapidly. What was so special about this kid?

_Wait a second. What do I care?_ Derek thought suddenly as he forced himself to get a grip. _It's only Aria. What's it to me if she makes stupid decisions about boys?_

Just as Derek's mind sunk back to reality, something caught his ears as he strolled by near the Band Hall. It was sound of a Flute. The melody, he did not recognize, but the music was so beautifully played he felt compelled to stop and listen. As he peeked into the room, he saw that this enchanting tune came from Aria. Derek could not believe his ears. He had know that she had always been good with music, but he had no idea she could play like that.

"Dude, I've been looking everywhere for you! What are you doing by the Band room?"

Derek snapped out of his trance to see Ian standing there looking dumbfounded.

"Oh, I just uh…." when Derek was unable to come up with a reason, he just said, "Nothing. Come on. We're going to be late for football practice."

xXx

"Beautiful! You really do have a gift," Edmund praised as Aria finished playing her solo for him.

"Thanks," Aria replied shyly, brushing her hair behind her ears.

They had both stayed after Band practice because Edmund wished to hear Aria play some more. As she could not think of a reason to say no, Aria sent a quick text to Vanessa and stayed with Edmund. This day had been so perfect she almost began to dread the moment she and Edmund would be apart. Aria knew she was thinking ridiculous but she could not help herself. Part of her was also afraid that she would go home, go to bed, and wake up to find that all this was merely a dream.

Aria forced her thoughts out of fairy tale land as she recalled, "Hey, I thought I heard the door open while I was playing. Was anyone there?"

"I heard no one," Edmund replied. "Though it is likely because I was too busy admiring your exquisite music playing."

Aria smiled. "Would you like me to play something else?"

"How about this?" Edmund reached into his bag a pulled out some sheet music.

Aria picked it up and observed that it was the love theme to _Romeo and Juliet. _Funny. If this had been at the beginning of the school year, Aria would have been annoyed to see yet another love song, but now she didn't mind so much.

Once Aria finished playing, Edmund once again praised her. Aria looked over to him. She felt something, but she wasn't quite sure what. Could it be…?

Edmund leaned over towards Aria. Their lips almost met when…

"Ms. Rosenberg, Mr., uh, Calloway, right?" Mr. Spooner interjected, as the couple quickly broke apart. "I'm going to have to ask you two to leave now. I have a student coming in for a private lesson."

"Yes, sir," they replied in unison and left.

"Well, I better head home now anyway before my parents start to worry," Aria said as they walked out the building.

"How about I go with you? A young lady should not have to walk by herself," Edmund offered.

Aria shrugged and smiled, feeling gleeful. "Okay."

The two walked together towards Aria's house, holding hands. Aria's heart raced continuously. She could not believe what she felt, for she truly believed that for the first time in her life she was actually in love.

_A/N: Sorry about the delayed update. I know it has been a long time and I ended up not changing much in this chapter anyway. I guess I've been pretty occupied with school, work, and my other stories. Now that school's pretty much over, hopefully things will look up. Well, thank you to those of you still reading this story and a special thanks to those of you that reviewed! I know I've said this before, but they really mean a lot to me. :)_


	11. Chapter 10 Love and Jealously

_Chapter 10_

_Love and Jealously_

In a daze, Aria fell flat on her back landing on top of her own bed, her phone to her ear.

"Oh my god, this was the best day of my life!" Aria declared in delight to Vanessa that evening.

"I can't believe he walked you home," Vanessa added with less enthusiasm. "He does seem to be quite the gentleman. That's pretty uncommon at Sheerwood."

"That is so true," Aria agreed running her fingers through her hair. "Edmund is different from any boy I've ever met. Did I tell you he is planning on taking me out to dinner for my birthday next week?"

Aria heard Vanessa sigh over the phone before she replied, "That would be three times now. You guys sound like you are already getting serious."

Aria sat up on her bed, finally picking up on her friend's tone. "Yeah, so?"

"Well," Vanessa began slowly, taking in a deep breath. "You have only known each other for a day."

This information came as a hard crash in Aria's mind, forcing her to reality. Has it really only been one day? To her, it felt as of she had known Edmund for a lifetime. She could not believe how well they connected with each other and only after spending one day together.

After a few moments of silence, Aria finally replied to Vanessa, "I guess it seems like longer than that to me."

"Or maybe you are making more of all this than it actually is," Vanessa pointed out.

"Hey, I know what I'm feeling," Aria protested through purged lips, as she grew annoyed. "Look, I know this seems crazy, but I think I really am in love."

"Aria, you don't even know him," Vanessa reminded her. "Doesn't it seem strange that he just came out of nowhere and immediately fell for you?"

Aria found herself even more irritated. "What are you implying? That since he fell for me, there's something wrong with him?"

"No, of coarse not!" Vanessa assured her best friend and then let out another deep exhale. "It's just that something off about him. I can't really explain it, but I'm getting this strange vibe from him."

Aria rolled her eyes thankful her best friend was not here in person. "Are you going to try to tell me you sense a bad aura from him and that's why we shouldn't go out?"

"What's the point? Vanessa demanded, her tone now growing agitated. "Its not like you would listen to me if I did." She paused for a moment and then softened. "Look, I'm not saying he is bad or anything. It just seems almost unnatural how he immediately targets one person. It kind of sounds like a typical teen vampire romance story."

Aria almost started to fume but that last statement made her grin. "So now you're saying Edmund is a vampire?"

"Well, considering he hasn't bursts into flames or sparkled in the sun, I was thinking more along the lines of werewolf," Vanessa replied jokingly.

At that moment, Aria fell back on her bed as both girls simultaneously bursts out in laughter. Aria was relieved that their spat seemed pretty much at its end.

Once they both calmed Vanessa added, "Look, Aria, I'm sure there is nothing wrong with Edmund. Who knows? Maybe wherever he comes from all guys are like that. All I'm trying to say is be careful, just in case."

"Don't worry. I will," Aria assured before quickly changing the subject to avoid another argument. "Hey, do you know if Ms. Fleming back yet? I'll bet she would like to know I finally found a boy I'm interested in."

"I don't think so. I haven't seen her in a while."

Aria let out a disappointed huff. "Oh well. I'll just have to tell her whenever she gets back. I wonder where she disappeared to this time."

Vanessa sighed. "Who knows? She never talks much about her trips. It almost seems like she is intentionally keeping something from us."

Aria let out a long exhale. With everything going with the mysterious substitute to Edmund she had forgotten that before she had been wondering about the secrets her neighbor kept.

Aria merely shrugged less interested in the matter. "Yeah, she probably is, but I doubt we will ever find out what it is."

xXx

Vanessa still seemed suspicious of Edmund though she tried to hide her concern for her best friend's sake. Walter, on the other hand, did not seem nearly as hostile. Aria figured he must like the idea of having a guy in the group for a change.

"Well, I heard Aria mention numerous times that you are planning on taking her to dinner for her birthday," Walter said to Edmund, shooting Aria a brief grin. "May I ask where?"

"I was thinking about taking her to the Palace Royale," Edmund replied, sitting up straighter. "I hear it's the nicest restaurant in town."

"Wow, Edmund. That's really expensive," Aria commented, surprised by this new information. "You really don't have to do that. I'd be okay with Chiles or even fast food."

"You only turn sixteen once," Edmund responded as he looked her directly in the eye. "Don't you think it should be something special?"

Vanessa chimed in, shooting Aria a brief glance, "You know, Aria usually has a her birthday dinner with her parents and then celebrates with her friends the following weekend."

"Well, this year it's going to be different," Aria stated firmly, giving her best friend a hard look.

Vanessa returned those same eyes as she leaned back in her chair. "Have you told your parents yet?"

Aria looked back down, fidgeting her fork in her potatoes and muttered, "No, but I'm going to."

Vanessa shrugged. "Well, you better do it soon. Your birthday in three days."

Once again, Aria got frustrated with her best friend as she fumed, "What does it matter when I tell them? It's my birthday so I can do what I want."

Edmund commented softly, "I think I'm sensing a hint of jealousy."

Vanessa looked at Edmund appalled. "What, me? I'm not jealous!"

"I think he means behind you," Walter informed as he noticed where Edmund was looking.

Aria and Vanessa both turned their heads to observe Kendal sitting with her arms folded, starring daggers at Aria.

Aria rolled her eyes and turned back to Edmund. "I don't know what Kendal's problem is. She already has a boyfriend."

Edmund kept his eyes pointed straight ahead and nodded in that direction. "Actually, I was talking about that boy sitting at her table."

This time when the girls looked, they saw Derek. Aria had never seen him look so furious nor could she imagine a possible reason as of why. Never the less, his angry eyes pointed in her direction or maybe Edmund's. She could not tell. Aria decided best to shrug it off and ignore him.

"I don't know what his problem is either," Aria grumbled, irritated. "I don't think either of those two like seeing me in a happy relationship."

"If you don't mind my asking, Aria," Edmund seemed to approach this question cautiously. "Do you two have any history together or does he have any interest in forming a relationship with you?"

Aria nearly burst out laughing. "Who, me and Derek? No way! Nothing has ever or will ever happen between him and me."

"Well, we don't know about that second part," Vanessa mumbled.

Aria glared at her best friend.

"I meant the part about _him_ wanting to have a relationship with you in the future," Vanessa explained as returned to her plate to eat.

"It doesn't matter what you meant," Aria went on. "Nothing will ever happen with us, ever. Besides, we've only had an actual conversation once, and he made it pretty clear he's not interested in having a serious girlfriend with anyone."

"When was that?" Vanessa asked, looking up, curiously, from her tray of food. "You never said anything about it."

"Oh," Aria recalled in a softer tone as she looked upward. "It was when Ms. Malone gave us both detention, remember? We just briefly talked about that English assignment we were given about whether we would die for someone we loved, and then we got on to talking about relationships in general. That's when he told me why he had no interest in having one." Aria then turned to Edmund and gently put her hand on his. "You see, I completely forgot about that conversation until just now so it obviously didn't mean anything."

Edmund sighed, relieved. Aria could not help but smile. For some reason, it seemed nice that Edmund was worried about the idea of her and Derek. It meant that he considered himself in a serious relationship with her. Luckily for Edmund, he had nothing to worry about as far as Derek was concerned.

xXx

"I can't believe this! Who does guy think he is?" Kendal flamed as she walked down the hall with Derek and Ian after lunch let out. "Why is he interested in Aria of all people? Doesn't he know he could do much better?"

Derek had grown accustomed to seeing Kendal get this worked over situations similar to this, even though they had nothing to do with her. She would grow red as she raged on. Derek always imagined little horns growing from her head and her holding a pitchfork with the flames from Hell itself. This time, however, he felt similar, if not more anger than Kendal portrayed at the moment.

"Where did he even come from?" Derek added in a hostile tone. "Who changes schools in September?"

"Will you two give it a rest?" Ian sighed in exasperation. "What's the big deal?"

Kendal turned to him with her hands on her hips. "The big deal is that this really cute boy comes to our school and just goes straight to Aria without a second thought."

"Yeah," Derek agreed. "They are acting like they're in a serious relationship and he doesn't even know her! I mean, what is she thinking?"

Ian looked at him curiously. "Dude, do you like Aria or something?"

"What? No!" Derek protested a bit too quickly. "That's ridiculous!"

"Okay, whatever you say" Ian replied unconvinced and then turned to Kendal. "And you better not say you like this Edmund guy."

"Of coarse not," Kendal assured him in a softer voice, placing her hand on the upper part of his arm.

"Then you both really need to just chill about this Edmund guy. He has nothing to do with any of us." Ian put his arms around both Kendal and Derek and added, "Besides, its about time something interesting happens around here for a change."

Kendal let out one final huff before nodding. Ian released them both and just took her hand as the two of them walked to their next class, Derek following behind them. He supposed his best friend was right. This new kid and Aria had nothing to do with him so there was no reason to get worked up over the situation. At this rate, he could potentially turn in to as much of a control freak as Kendal and Derek did not want to be like that. Still, every time he observed Edmund and Aria together or even just pictured it in his mind, he could feel his veins boil in fury. Derek figured he would just have to grin and bear it. He then thought maybe he should consider finding an actual girlfriend of his own. That should keep him from thinking about Aria.


	12. Chapter 11 Edmund's Gift

_Chapter 11_

_Edmund's Gift_

On the morning of October 7, Aria found herself lying in bed wide-awake for a change. She could have sworn she had woken up to her heart beating so heavily from excitement.

"Aria, time to wake up." Elizabeth knocked on the door and walked in. "Happy birthday, sweetie!"

"Thanks, Mom." Aria sat up, enthusiastically.

"Wow, Aria, I have never seen you this alert in the morning," her mother commented with a grin, "even on your birthday."

"I just have an extra good feeling about today," Aria replied, her voice filled with glee as she jumped out of bed and went to her dresser. "Now, could you help me brush my hair, please? I want to look extra nice today."

On a normal day, including birthdays, Aria just wore jeans and a t-shirt to school since she didn't care to spend a lot of extra time on her appearance, not to mention, she was always too sleepy in the morning. Today, however, she wanted to be different. As Edmund said, you only turn sixteen once. Aria just knew today is going to be the best day of her life.

Her mother's smile appeared to fade as she spoke in an awkward tone, "Aria?"

"Yes, Mom?" Aria asked as she got up and walked over to her mirror.

"Your father and I were thinking, maybe you would like to stay home from school today since it's your birthday. We can call in sick for you if you want?"

Aria turned away from her reflection to see Elizabeth looking quite concerned, almost distressed. She could not imagine what could be causing her mom to behave in such a manner.

She shook her head. "No, Mom. Edmund is taking me out for dinner tonight. I don't want him to think I am sick."

"What?" her mother practically bellowed. "Who is this boy?"

Aria rolled her eyes. "Edmund, Mom. Remember, the boy I told you about? I know I mentioned him to you before."

"Oh no, sweetie. That can't happen tonight," Elizabeth responded frantically shaking her head. "Your father and I have something special planned for you."

"But Mom," Aria protested. "Can't it wait until I get home? After all, it is _my_ birthday."

"No, Aria! You can't go out today." Elizabeth seemed even more stressed out now as she let out a heavy breath. "Listen to me. I know, of course, we can't actually keep you home from school but I want you to promise me you will come straight home after, okay?"

Now this is getting really weird. Aria wondered why her mother wanted to keep her home so badly today. As she studied her mother's face, Aria read great worry, more intense than she had ever seen before.

Elizabeth looked at her daughter intently. "Aria?"

"Okay, sure," Aria agreed though she secretly planned to go out with Edmund anyway.

Once Elizabeth closed the door behind her, Aria proceeded to do her hair and make-up. Opening her drawer, she pulled out the little eye shadow kit Kendal gave her on her birthday two years ago. She desperately tried to remember the way her former friend showed her how to do her eyes, but since time has passed that proved rather difficult. After about ten minutes, Aria let out a huff and decided to keep her make-up simple rather than screwing it up. She did not even try to do anything fancy with her hair. Having it tangle free was a vast improvement from a normal day.

Aria then threw on her purple peasant top and short black skirt and prepared to leave. As she opened the door to go downstairs she overheard her parents.

"I told you, Elizabeth," her father spoke in a hushed tone. "You should have just let her sleep. By the time she would have woken up, school would be out."

"And what would we have told her when she woke up, Ted? She can already tell something's wrong. Besides, we have no valid reason to keep her home from school." 

Aria heard Ted fold up the paper as he asked, "You told her to come straight home?"

"I made her promise," Elizabeth assured him. "Lets just hope nothing happens."

Ted sighed. "I'm telling you, Honey, one thing for certain is I will sleep a lot better once this day is over."

xXx

On their walk to school, Aria did not hesitate to tell Vanessa everything she overheard from her parents.

"It sounds like they think someone's after you," Vanessa commented, scratching her head.

"Who could that possibly be?" Aria wondered aloud.

Vanessa shrugged, but still said, "Well, sixteenth birthday's have always had a bad rap. Some say that day itself is bad luck."

"That's only in movies," Aria replied.

"You know, I read somewhere that all stories ever written were inspired by at least partial truth," Vanessa explained. "I mean, think about it. How could anyone actually think up some of these creatures or situations without having something to trigger it?"

Aria tried to hold back laughter as she commented, "So with that logic you could say that maybe Anne Rice meant some sort of vampire and then decided to write a book about it."

Vanessa sighed, "Well, maybe not exactly a vampire but something like it. There are websites that actually say this stuff is true."

"Have you tried running your theory by Walter?" Aria asked with a raised brow.

Vanessa let out a huff as she replied, "You know Walter…" she dropped her voice for an impression of him, "If it can't be proven then it can't be a valid fact."

Her imitation caused both of the girls to descend into a fit of laughter. Aria even forgot about how unnaturally worried her parents behaved this morning.

Still in giggles when they reached the end of the street, the girls heard a voice call out from behind. "Well, hello, birthday girl!"

They turned around to see their disappeared neighbor, standing in her yard, waving enthusiastically with a broad smile on her face.

"Ms. Fleming!" Aria greeted, cheerfully. "You're back! It's so good to see you."

Still beaming, Ms. Fleming let out a sigh of relief. "Believe me. It's good to be back. My sisters are rather difficult to be around sometimes." She paused to let out another long exhale. "So, anything new?"

Vanessa looked over at Aria, "You wanted to tell her, remember?"

"Tell me what, Aria?" she asked, appearing quite curious.

Aria could feel her cheeks flush as she grinned. "Well, I met someone at school recently and, well, we're kind of dating."

"Wonderful!" Ms. Fleming beamed and clapped her hands together. "And just in time, oh… um, I mean that's great! What's his name?"

Aria practically sung the name, "Edmund Calloway."

Ms. Fleming's smile faded slightly. "Has he always gone to your school?"

"Actually he recently moved," Aria answered.

Ms. Fleming suddenly got quiet for a moment then said, "Well, I need to go check on something. Bye girls! I hope you have a fantastic day… Oh, and Aria? Make sure you come straight home after school, okay?"

"Um, sure," Aria replied solemnly and then turned to Vanessa. "How did she know my parents said that?"

All Vanessa could offer in response was a shrug.

xXx

This day was absolutely perfect for Aria. No one bothered her for a change, and best of all she got to spend it with Edmund. For Aria, this had to be the best birthday, ever. The entire day, her bones jittered in excitement as she thought of there first official date soon to come.

Once school let out Aria met up with her new boyfriend and asked, "Hey, do you think we can go ahead and go out together, now, instead of waiting for tonight? You see, my parents told me I had to come straight home and I have a feeling once I'm in my house, I won't be allowed to leave it."

"As you wish," Edmund replied smoothly. "After all, today is your special day."

Aria beamed joyfully. Never in her life had she felt so blissful. Aria knew she would remember this day for the rest of her life.

In the school parking lot, Aria found a black limo parked by the front entrance. She let out a gasp upon realization that this elegant ride was meant for her.

"Edmund!" Aria threw her hand over her mouth. "How much money did you spend on this?"

"Do not worry about it," Edmund replied, soothingly. "Today, I want you to feel like a princess."

And indeed she did. That evening, Aria and Edmund shared the most amazing dinner together at the Palace Royale. The servers at this restaurant seemed to treat their guest like royalty. The building itself was decorated just as Aria pictured an actual castle with red, velvet banners hanging from the walls, chandeliers from the ceilings, and stained glass windows. Aria truly felt like a real princess and Edmund her prince. She thought that perhaps all this time, Ms. Fleming was right about her finding Prince Charming.

Aria looked up to Edmund and smiled. "Thank you for all this, Edmund. This has to be the most amazing night of my life."

"I'm glad you are enjoying it," Edmund responded softly as he sipped his drink.

Aria sighed thinking back to this morning. "Well, its perfect now. I just hope I don't get into too much trouble when I get home." 

"You shouldn't worry about that," Edmund muttered in an odd tone.

Aria smiled dreamily not picking up on it. "You're right! I should just live in the moment. I deal with it when I get home. Besides, how ever much trouble I get in, it will be worth it."

Edmund just sat in silence, looking downward at his plate.

"Is something wrong?" Aria asked, looking at him with confusion filling her eyes.

Edmund fiddled with his fork awkwardly. "It just that…Aria, um, would you like to come to my house after dinner?"

Aria let out a sad breath. "Oh, Edmund, I really wish I could, but I better go home after this. My parents will already be mad enough."

Edmund nodded. "I understand. It's just that I left your present at my house."

"Oh, well, you can give it to me tomorrow," Aria suggested, giving him an apologetic smile. 

Edmund remained persistent. "Actually, it's kind of big. I was planning on putting it in my car and driving it to your house."

Aria laughed. "My gosh, Edmund! What on earth did you get me? I hope you didn't spend too much money on whatever it is. You have already done enough with the limo and this dinner."

"Actually its an antique in my family," Edmund explained. "There's just not enough room for it in our house and my mother would really like to see it go somewhere nice rather then sell it to anyone. She said it would be wonderful if I gave it to you."

Aria could not help but feel intrigue so she agreed. Also, she figured that since she would likely be in a grand amount of trouble for being out in the first place against her parent's wishes, thirty more minutes would not make much difference.

As they rode the limo to Edmund's house, Aria curiously observed the neighborhood. She had never been to this part of town before. All the homes they drove past looked like mansions. Edmund's appeared no different.

"Wow, your house is beautiful," Aria commented in awe.

Edmund smiled. "Thank you. Now, let us go in so you can see your present."

The inside of Edmund's house looked rather similar to the Palace Royale, like a Renaissance castle. Aria admired the banners that hung on the walls. They were all tones of gold and silver.

"Aria," Edmund called gently as she admired the place. "Your present is in this room. Come in."

When Aria walked to Edmund he covered her eyes and walked her into the room. Once he removed his hand, Aria saw a golden spinning wheel.

Throwing her hand over her mouth, Aria let out another gasp. "Wow! This is beautiful, Edmund! How much is this thing worth?"

"It doesn't matter. I would give you the world if I could."

Aria had absolutely no idea what she was going to do with this as she had no idea how to even use a spinning wheel, but it did not seem to matter to her now. The important fact Aria picked up on this moment is that Edmund had given her a family inheritance. This alone told her a great deal about their relationship.

"Would you like to touch it?" Edmund asked.

Aria was thrown off guard by this question, but answered, "Um, alright, sure."

With Edmund's hand on top of hers leading it, Aria stroked the spinning wheel until all the way to the needle on top.

Aria pulled her bleeding finger to her mouth. "Ouch!"

"Are you okay, Aria?" Edmund asked, appearing concerned.

"Yeah," Aria glanced at her hand. "I just pricked my finger, that's all."

"Let me see." Edmund took hold of Aria's hand and kissed her bleeding finger. "Does it feel better?"

"I, uh…" Aria felt her mind suddenly turn foggy. "Edmund, something is wrong."

The dizziness grew more intense. Aria felt as if the entire room was spinning, as well as the flood below her feet. She continued to feel this overwhelming sensation for another moment as she began to lose balance and then… nothing.


	13. Chapter 12 In Search of Aria

_Chapter 12_

_In Search of Aria_

Derek, who had only been awake for a few minutes, sleepily reached the scrambled eggs and bacon his mom left out for him on the kitchen counter. Never needing much time to get ready, he would always wake up just before it was time to leave for school. All had to do was throw on his baggy jeans, tan shirt, and worn sneakers and then he was good to go.

_Beep. Beep._

He glanced out the front window and saw Ian in his red convertible, waiting. Realizing he had to go, Derek put the rest of his eggs on a folded piece of toast and went out to his ride.

"Hey, man. What's up?" Derek greeted.

"Hey, Not much," Ian replied tiredly, but when saw that Derek brought his breakfast in the car he grew more alert and added, "Be careful with that, man. Kendal gets kind of upset when I make a mess in here."

Derek rolled his eyes. "Seriously, Dude? This is your car, not Kendal's."

"I know, but I drive her to places a lot in this car," Ian pointed out with a shrug. "She just wants it clean."

Derek sighed realizing there was no point in arguing. "Whatever, man."

When the two boys arrived at school, Derek observed something interesting. "Hey, Cooper's all by herself today."

Everyday, they would see Aria Rosenberg and Vanessa Cooper arrive at the school together. Derek couldn't help but feel curious. Ever since he had known Aria, she had never missed a day of school.

"Maybe Rosenberg's with that Calloway kid," Ian suggested. "They seem to be getting pretty serious."

Derek grumbled at the thought of those two together. "I still can't believe how fast she fell for his cheesy tactics. I always thought Aria was the kind of girl that had more sense."

Now it was Ian's turn to roll his eyes. "Dude, you've got to let this whole Edmund thing go. Even Kendal's dropped it, now. Also, you keep making it harder and harder to believe you're not into Aria."

"For the one millionth time, I don't like Aria!" Derek snapped in frustration.

Ian shrugged as he tried to suppress his grin. "Sure, whatever you say, man."

xXx

By lunchtime, there was still no sign of Aria. As Derek walked over to his usual table, he noticed Vanessa Cooper heading towards the exit, still wearing a worried expression. He couldn't help but wonder what was going on with her and Aria. Vanessa had seemed distant and concerned all day. Derek wondered if she was going to go to Aria right now. For some reason even he did not understand, he had to find out.

As Derek approached Ian, sitting alone at their table he asked, "Hey man, can I borrow your car?"

Ian looked up at his best friend thrown off by the question, but replied, "Um, sure. Why?"

Derek scratched his head, trying to come up with some reason quickly. "I, uh, left my English homework at home and was going to sneak off during lunch to get it."

Ian now appeared utterly puzzled. "I don't think we had any English homework."

"Sure we did," Derek insisted. "Remember? We were suppose to, um… write a poem about something important to us."

Ian let out a frustrated huff. "Man, I can't pay attention to that Mr. Stone guy. He is _so_ dull. I didn't even know we were doing poetry now. I just assumed we were still on grammar." He threw Derek his car keys and pulled a piece of paper out of his bag. "I guess I better get working on that now. Just be careful with the car. Kendal…"

"Yeah sure, man," Derek interrupted hastily not interested in all Kendal's car rules.

Just as he started to walk away he heard Kendal's voice. "Ian, what are you working on?"

"That poem we were suppose to write for Mr. Stone's class," Ian grumbled.

Kendal's voice grew a mixture of sharpness and confusion. "We didn't have any English homework last night."

"Sure we did," Ian claimed. "That's why Derek is taking the car, to go get his."

After that statement, Derek picked up his pace. Fortunately when he turned his head, he saw that neither Ian nor Kendal bothered to follow him. Once outside, he made a dash to Ian's car.

As Derek drove up to where Vanessa walked he lightly tapped the horn and asked, "Do you need a lift?"

Vanessa just starred at him bewildered.

Derek then asked her, "You're going to Aria's, right?"

Reluctantly, she responded, "Maybe… what's it to you?"

Unable to come up with a reason, Derek just pointed out, "You'll get there faster if I drive you."

"That doesn't answer my question," Vanessa stated impatiently, folding her arms. "Why do you care?"

"I'm just, well…" Derek rubbed his forehead having no idea what to say so he decided to go with the closest thing to the truth. "I guess I'm a bit concerned. We both know Aria has never missed a day of school. I just want to see if she's alright."

Vanessa raised her eyebrow. "_You_ want to see if Aria's alright?"

Derek breathed a frustrated breath. "Yeah…um, its just that there's something about that Edmund guy. I can't explain it but I just get this really weird feeling when I see him."

"You can sense it, too," Vanessa mumbled, her fingers briefly combing her hair behind her shoulders. "That guy reeks of a bad aura."

"Uh, yeah sure," Derek agreed quickly. "So can we go? The longer we stand here the more time we waste."

"Alright fine," Vanessa huffed as she got in the car and grumbled, "I can't believe I'm doing this."

"So when did you last see her?" Derek asked as they drove off.

Vanessa leaned on the side window, resting her hand on her head as she recalled, "Yesterday at school. She left with Edmund after that. I think he was going to take her somewhere nice for her birthday."

"Edmund," Derek said the same darkly. "Do you really think he did something to her disappearing?"

Vanessa slammed her hand against her leg in frustration. "I don't know. When I went to her house this morning, no one answered. I was actually planning to trying Ms. Fleming, now."

Derek took his eyes off the road for a brief moment to glance at her. "Who's Ms. Fleming?"

"Our neighbor," Vanessa replied more calmly and proceeded to explain, "For some reason, I have a feeling she knows something about Edmund. You should have seen the look on her face when Aria first told her about him. It was as if she was worried about something."

"Alright then." Derek nodded looking at the street with determination. "Lets go to this Ms. Fleming person."

When Vanessa and Derek reached Ms. Fleming's house, Vanessa darted up to the front door, her light red hair flying behind her shoulders, and began knocking furiously.

Ms. Fleming answered, appearing rather glum. "Oh, hello Vanessa."

Vanessa did not waste any time with greetings, instead panting, "Aria's missing and I know this may sound strange but I think Edmund had something to do with it."

"I know," Ms. Fleming answered sadly, "and I know where she most likely is, too. It's just that, well there's no one too…" she stopped when she saw Derek and demanded, "Who is this boy?"

"I'm Derek, Derek James. I, uh, drove her here to help look for Aria." Once he said that, Ms. Fleming's words hit him. "Wait, what do you mean you know where she is?"

Ignoring his question, Ms. Fleming merely gazed at him with wonder. "If you're concerned enough about Aria to come looking for her then you just might be," she took a dramatic pause, "the one."

"Huh?" Derek gawked at her blankly and then looked over to Vanessa, but she appeared just as befuddled by what this woman was saying.

Ms. Fleming shook her head and clapped her hands together. "No time to explain now. Come on, we are going to rescue Aria!"

Without any further hesitation, Ms. Fleming dashed to Ian's car then demanded, "Now, which one of you is driving?"

"Me," Derek answered still confused, "But where are we going?"

"Just get in and start the car and I will tell you exactly where to go," Ms. Fleming ordered. "Quickly now. There is no time to waste."

Derek looked to Vanessa while she just shrugged and followed Ms. Fleming.

The three drove to downtown Norfolk to a deserted building that neither Derek nor Vanessa ever noticed before now. Once they parked the car and walked up to it they found a dilemma.

"It's locked," Vanessa groaned as she tried to open the door.

"Never mind that," Ms. Fleming moved Vanessa out of the way, pulled out her wand and tapped the door. It then opened all by itself.

Gasping, Derek began to ask, "How did you…"

"Now is not the time for questions," Ms. Fleming interrupted impatiently. "Just come on in and step in the fountain."

"Why do we need to get in the fountain?" Derek asked looking from it to Ms. Fleming to Vanessa.

"Yeah, the water looks kind of filthy," Vanessa added making a disgusted face as she eyed the fountain.

Ms. Fleming rolled her eyes as she nudged both of them forward. "Don't worry about that. Just get in! We have to hurry."

At the same time, Vanessa and Derek both reluctantly stepped both feet into the fountain. They then felt something suddenly yank them downward before forcing them back up. When it was over, they realized they had been pushed out of a lake but somehow still dry.

"This is weird," Derek commented, rubbing his head in astonishment.

Vanessa did not answer but simply gazed about their new surroundings appearing dazed.

Only moments later, Ms. Fleming came out of the lake. Just like Vanessa and Derek, the water appeared not to have touched her.

"Well, Vanessa, Derek," Ms. Fleming beamed casually, as this was a usual routine to her. "Welcome to Galatia! By the way, you can call me Adora."

Derek opened his mouth but no words escaped.

Finally, Vanessa got out, "Is Aria here, somewhere?"

The strange woman continued to smile, but urgently motioned them to follow. "Not to worry, my dear. I will explain everything on the way. First, I trust you are both familiar with the charming fairy tale story, _Sleeping Beauty_."


	14. Chapter 13 Dragon Guarded Tower

_Chapter 13_

_Dragon Guarded Tower_

"So let me get this straight," Derek analyzed, his hand on his head, once Adora finished explaining Aria's situation, "Aria is suppose to be like Sleeping Beauty, I mean the Sleeping Beauty?"

"Yes… well, that is your world's interpretation of the story," Adora answered.

Derek folded his arms, skeptically. "And I am the one who is suppose to kiss her to wake her up?"

The fairy clapped her hands together. "Precisely."

"Wait a minute," Vanessa interjected, walking with her hands on her hips. "Isn't a prince supposed to kiss her?"

Adora shook her head. "Oh no, dear. It does not necessarily have to be a prince. My spell specifically states that true love's kiss will awaken Aria."

"What makes you think I am Aria's true love?" Derek demanded. "I mean we barely… or well, I guess we have known each a long time, but still…"

"Oh, trust me, I can tell," Adora interrupted dreamily. "I must say though, in your world, love does work in very strange ways. Even so, I still have the ability to recognize love when I see it. It is part of being a fairy."

"What about Edmund?" Vanessa asked as she brushed some strands of hair behind her ears. "How does he fit into this? Was he actually the evil witch in disguise?"

Adora sighed as she explained, "Oh, no, darling. Ed, or Edmund is just one of Myrtle's minions. She must have used her magic on him to make him seem charming so Aria would fall for him quickly."

"She did a good job," Derek grumbled, darkly. "Aria was all over him. It looked like he brainwashed her."

"Aria just liked him because he was actually nice to her," Vanessa heated up to her best friend's defense. "Unlike some people."

"Hey, I was never mean to her," Derek retorted, taken back by her attack. "I just joked around with her for something to do."

Vanessa looked directly at him, crossing her arms. "So the only reason you tormented Aria was because you were bored?"

Derek shrugged casually. "What can I say? High school is a pretty dull place, especially Sheerwood. Besides, don't you think torment is kind of a strong word?" He turned his gaze straight ahead and muttered, "Jeeze, why are girls always so dramatic?"

"That is enough you two!" Adora held up her hand in annoyance. "We are just about there."

The three continued to walk along the pathway with Adora in the lead. Vanessa and Derek silently agreed best to walk quietly as opposed to bickering. Instead, they observed their surroundings. Everything in this world seemed so unreal. The grass and trees were unnaturally green. The flowers blossomed more elaborate and colorful than either of them had ever seen back home.

Vanessa then snapped out of her daze and remembered she still had not finished asking Adora questions. "So Aria's real parents are the king and queen of whatever this place is, right? Are you related in Aria in any way?"

Adora answered, "Aria's parents are the king and queen of Galatia but, no, I am not a relative of hers. I'm just one of the fairies that gave her a magical gift for her first birthday celebration. My gift to Aria was actually what saved her life."

"So this is pretty much exactly like _Sleeping Beauty_?" Derek commented.

Vanessa was the one who answered, "Yeah, except for in _Sleeping Beauty_, the princess was rescued by a prince, not some jerk jock."

Derek opened his mouth to retaliate, but the opportunity soon passed.

"We are here!" Adora announced cheerfully as they approached a small cottage.

Derek and Vanessa just gawked at the place with puzzled expressions.

"I thought Aria would be in a castle or tower or something like that," Vanessa finally commented.

"Oh no, this is not where Aria lies," Adora answered quickly, beckoning them forward. "We are just stopping by the wizard's place for something to help young Derek when he saves her."

An old man with a long grey beard stood in front of the cottage, bent over by his plants, apparently gardening.

"Who's that supposed to be, Dumbledore?" Derek asked with slight exasperation.

Vanessa grinned as she added, "I am thinking more like Merlin."

"No, that is, um…" Adora thought for a second. "Oh, I can never remember his name. Let's see, I think it started with a g…"

"Gandalf?" Vanessa suggested while Derek chuckled.

"No, no. It was a rather unusual name," Adora continued to ponder until she gleefully remembered, "Greg! That is the one! Greg!"

Vanessa and Derek briefly exchanged glances before Derek asked, "Greg? What is so unusual about that name?"

"It is not a very common name in this world," Adora replied as they approached the front of the cottage.

Greg beamed the moment the fairy came into his sight. "Adora! How wonderful it is to see you. I rarely ever see you fairies stop by here anymore."

"Yes, well all this time, I have been away watching over the Princess Aria, though unfortunately Myrtle still managed to get to her." Adora sighed dolefully and took a dramatic pause. "Greg, we need your help."

Greg's eyes moved downward, sadly. "Oh, Adora, my dear. I'm afraid there is not much I can do. You see, from what I heard Myrtle has got the princess in an old deserted castle guarded by a dragon."

"Wait a minute," Derek cut in, his completion turning white. "Did you just say…" he gulped before managing to choke out, "dragon?"

"Yes, my boy. I am afraid so," Greg answered in an understanding tone. "Only what is most deadly and dangerous for Myrtle. I swear, these kinds of dangers did not use to happen around here. No other witches or fairies in the past were as deadly as Myrtle. I would not dare go up against her myself, or anywhere near her for that matter."

"There must be some way you can help us," Adora pleaded, meeting his eyes. "We will take whatever you can offer to help. Anything."

Greg sighed as he rummaged around through his supplies. "Let us see. There may be something I can give you to help with this dragon problem."

Greg pulled out a small rusty pipe. Vanessa and Derek both stared at it curiously, seemingly wondering how a pipe would help them against a dragon. The wizard then muttered a quick enchantment causing the pipe to form into a large silver sword that glowed, blantantly. Both Derek's and Vanessa's jaws dropped, simultaneously, in bewilderment of what they just saw.

"Here you go, young lad," Greg held the glowing sword to Derek. "This should help you against the dragon."

Instead of taking the sword as Greg expected, Derek backed away and said, "Hold on a second. I am not going to fight any dragons." As he observed both Adora's and Greg's taken back faces he added, "I am sorry, but I do not have a death wish."

Vanessa's entire body swung around to face him. "So you are going to let her die instead?"

"She is not dying. She is just sleeping," Derek shot back. "Besides, Aria likes to sleep a lot anyway, doesn't she?"

Vanessa folded her arms, starring at him. "How do you even know that about her?"

"Hey, I have known Aria almost as long as you have," Derek reminded her. "I remember in kindergarten, the teacher would always have a hard time waking her up after nap time."

Vanessa looked down, surprised and muttered, "I forgot about that."

"You see," Adora chimed in, gently. "Derek, you and Aria have this special bond that neither of you are aware of. Ever since you have known her, you pay her attention and keep even little memories of her. You _are_ the one who is meant to save her."

"I wouldn't go as far to say that," Derek debated, though unable to meet her in the eye. "Just because you have known someone a long time does not mean you are in love with them."

Adora shook her head and stated firmly, "Yes, but like I just said, you remember little things like that about her, not to mention you felt concern about her when she went missing. What do you think drove you to my house earlier today to come look for her?"

"Okay, maybe I was a little concerned," Derek admitted, but then affirmed stubbornly. "I am still not going up against a dragon."

"You cannot just leave there alone with that monster," Vanessa fumed at him and then turned to Adora. "Isn't true love suppose to mean that one is willing to risk their lives for the other?"

Before Adora could answer, Derek shot back, "Aria already knows I would not risk my life for anything. We had this conversation before. For the record, neither would she."

Vanessa paused, apparently giving up on her case and then took in a deep breath. "Okay fine, if you will not do it then I will." She turned to Greg and reached out her hand, still breathing heavily in fear, and muttered, "I guess I will take that."

Derek starred downward, appearing slightly guilty but did not say anything. Vanessa just gave him a more sympathetic glance and then turned to Adora.

The fairy stepped back, hesitant. "Oh, I do not know if this will work, dear. I think it would be better if Aria's true love was the one to go."

"The spell only said Aria's true love had to be the one to kiss her," Vanessa pointed out. "It did not say anything about him necessarily having to be the one who actually slays the dragon." She then looked at Adora more desperately. "Please, I have to do something. Aria is my best friend. I cannot imagine life without her."

Adora and Greg exchanged glances then Adora nodded. "Your feelings of friendship for Aria might just be enough for you to succeed." She turned her head to the wizard. "Greg, go ahead and give this brave young woman the sword."

Just as he begun to hand the sword to Vanessa, Derek interrupted, "Wait," he paused and took in a lengthy inhale. "I can do it. I will fight the dragon."

"Are you sure?" Vanessa asked with concern. "I understand it is a big risk and Aria does not mean the same to you as she does to me."

Derek shot her a brief grin. "It is nice to see you can be more understanding. Earlier, it kind of felt like I was talking to Kendal."

Vanessa opened her mouth as she felt the fury rise up again but quickly suppressed it. "You know what, since you are willing to risk your life for my best friend, I am going to let that last comment slide."

Greg then handed the shimmering sword to Derek. Just as Derek's hands touched the sword, it lost its glow and appeared as a regular sword.

"Well, that's encouraging," Derek grumbled, sarcastically.

Vanessa could not help but giggle. "Don't worry. It happens to all guys."

Derek glared at her while Greg reached back for the sword and said, "That is odd. Let me see if I can fix it."

When Greg once again held the sword it returned to its glowing state. "Ah! Here you go."

But when Derek held it again, the shine vanished. Vanessa found the sword did the same for her, but once Adora held it the glow returned.

Greg scratched his head. "I am not sure what's wrong with it."

"Oh, we do not have time for this!" Adora declared impatiently. "As long as the sword is sharp, it will pierce the heart of the dragon. Come on, you two. We need to go. Good bye, Greg, and thank you!"

"Are you sure it is okay?" Derek asked concerned while holding the plain sword.

"Yes, I am positive," Adora assured him.

The three left the wizard's home and made their way along the dirt path to the castle where Aria slept. Upon arriving, they observed a dark, gloomy, palace, guarded by a dragon almost as tall as the castle itself.

"Well, this is your que," Adora looked to Derek. "Are you ready?"

"Does he really have to go alone?" Vanessa asked nervously. "I can go with him."

"Don't worry. I will be alright," Derek replied with sudden confidence. "Besides, this is fairy tale world. Doesn't this place always get happy endings?"

Adora nodded with only slight concern. "Let us just hope mixing our world into it does not mess things up." She smiled at him with encouragement. "Good Luck! I know you can do this."

Vanessa gave him a quick hug while Adora patted him on the back and smiled gratefully. Derek then made his way to the castle hoping to find Aria and not get incinerated in the process.

The dragon let out a blaze of fire as it spotted Derek. Fortunately, he lunged out of the flame's path. His heart raced rapidly with fear. He was not sure exactly how he was supposed to slay this creature. Derek feared that if he attempted to throw the sword at its heart, he would miss and then be without a weapon. Grasping the sword, Derek ran towards the entrance to the castle.

Derek noticed the walls of the castle were unaffected by the dragon's fire. He figured he would be safer in there so he darted into the doors. Once inside, Derek took a moment to catch his breath. He decided he might as well go ahead and look for Aria and deal with the dragon later.

Derek searched throughout the castle, but every room was empty. Then a thought occurred to him. He supposed Aria could be in the highest room in the tallest tower. That sounded like something that would be in a fairy tale. Derek then proceeded to climb up the spiral steps. When he reached the room in the tallest tower in the castle, he finally found her sleeping peacefully on the bed. She wore a dazzling golden gown and a small diamond tiara. Derek paused for a moment, never before taking note of her beauty until this very moment. He quickly forced himself to snap out of his daze, assuming it had something to do with the affect of this strange fairy tale world.

He walked slowly to the bed where Aria slept trying to keep his focus. His only fear now was what would happen after this if it even worked. He still remained true to his mission as he took in a deep breath.

_Well, here goes, _Derek thought nervously, almost wishing he were back outside with the dragon. He soon regained his confidence and bent over, gently planting a kiss on Aria's lips.


	15. Chapter 14 Waking Up in Another World

_Chapter 14_

_Waking Up in Another World_

"Edmund," Aria breathed, her eyes still closed as she felt his lips gently press against hers.

Suddenly memory of their night together flowed through her mind like a steady river. Aria's eyes gradually fluttered open only to see that the person hovering over her was not Edmund.

"Derek!" Aria quickly sat up, her heart pounding heavily. "What are you doing here? Where is Edmund?" She paused, taking a moment to look around her new surroundings. "Where am I?"

Derek took a couple steps back, holding his hands up. "It's alright, Aria. I can explain…"

Aria didn't give him a chance to go on. "What is going on here? Is this your idea of a joke?"

"No, of coarse not!" Derek looked at her in disbelief as he almost chuckled. "You think I would actually go this far for a joke?"

"I would not put it past you," Aria muttered, as she looked around the room draped with light golden curtains with a shimmering candlestick chandelier hanging from the ceiling. "This does not even seem real. I must be dreaming… Yeah, that's it. This is just a dream."

Even as those words escaped her lips Aria felt pretty wide-awake at this moment. She concentrated her thoughts on her very last memory before she somehow fell asleep. Edmund was showing her the birthday present he planned on giving to her at his house. Aria took another moment to re-examine the room. It appeared fancy similar to the style of Edmund's house. She supposed she could be in one of his guestrooms. That still did not explain Derek's current presence.

Aria decided not to worry about Derek now, but rather go find her boyfriend. She stood up and began to move towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Derek demanded.

"I am going to look for Edmund," Aria snapped. "I am suppose to be on a date with him, not alone in a bedroom with you."

Derek ignored her attitude and quickly dashed over to Aria grabbing her arm. "Wait, you can't go out there!"

"Why not?" Aria demanded, yanking her arm back.

"Because…uh, because there is a dragon outside," Derek replied weakly.

Aria just starred at him in disbelief unsure of whether to get even more fumed up or laugh. If this was some sort of practical joke, Derek had definitely gone too far.

Derek pointed to the window. "If you don't believe me then just look outside and see for yourself."

Aria rolled her eyes but pulled the curtains anyway to find that Derek was indeed telling the truth. There sat the dragon, almost as tall as the building itself with its metallic scales shimmering in the sunlight. Aria stood paralyzed, her eyes widening in consternation as her lungs began to pump more heavily.

"This can't be happening." Aria felt similar dizziness to her last moment with Edmund and the spinning wheel.

"Don't worry, Aria. It is going to be okay," Derek consoled in a forceful tone and went on to explain, "You see, this is kind of like a fairy tale world and you are Sleeping Beauty and according to your neighbor, I am the one who is suppose to save you." He looked into her befuddled eyes and shrugged. "Well, so far, she was right since you woke up right when I kissed you."

"Sleeping Beauty?" Aria repeated in a daze as she put her hand on the wall for support.

He nodded. "Yeah, that's you, and…"

"Does that mean you are a prince here?" Aria asked softly before he could finish. "Is that why your kiss worked?"

"No, um…" Derek's body twitched awkwardly. "The kiss worked because… uh, we can talk about that later. We should really focus on getting out of here now."

Aria just stood in silence feeling too much bombshell for any more words.

Derek, on the other hand, oddly seemed to conjure up more confidence as he walked over to look out the window in inspiration. "Listen, Aria, this will be great! Look," he held up his weapon, "this wizard made me a magic sword from a pipe. All we have to do now is get out of here and I'll slay the dragon and then I'll be kind of like the hero who rescues the princess in this world and…" his head turned back, "um, Aria, why are you going back to bed?"

Aria pulled up the covers half way over her body and stated, "This is obviously just some crazy messed up dream I am having right now. I mean seriously… dragons, Sleeping Beauty," she flung her hand at him, "Prince Charming? This cannot really be happening. I am going back to sleep and when I wake up, I will be in my house, in my own bed, and… well probably grounded for sneaking off with Edmund and disobeying my parents."

"Aria," Derek walked over to her and knelt beside the bed. "Look, I know you just woke up in this place and this all seems really strange. I mean, I did not really believe it when I first got here. I don't know who was more shocked, me or Vanessa, but…"

"Vanessa's here?"

Derek nodded. "Yeah, she was the one who wanted to go out looking for you in the first place."

Aria starred out past him, her mind overwhelmed. "And she thought she would try a different universe?"

Derek laughed. "Actually, it was your neighbor. I think she is actually from here."

"You mean Ms. Fleming?"

"Yeah, well, she told us to call her Adora." Derek then looked at her desperately and pleaded on, "I promise you they are both just outside the gates waiting for us. Your neighbor can answer whatever questions you have, which I bet are a bunch. Right now, you just have to trust me. This is real."

Aria thought about all the dreams she had before that had seemed real. None, however, compared to how she felt at this very moment. Her senses were quite alive. Derek's touch, the air she breathed, and everything around her all felt too real to be a dream. Aria did not know what else to do but take Derek's hand and follow him out of the castle.

As the two of them headed towards the exit, Aria asked fearfully, "Derek, what are we going to do about that dragon out there?"

"Well, like I said, the wizard gave me this sword," Derek said though he still appeared pretty nervous. "I guess I'm supposed to slay the dragon with it. The only thing is that for some reason, the sword glowed when the wizard and Adora held it, but not for me or Vanessa."

Aria's thoughts were still shattered over this mystifying revelation of this new world. She felt the urge to ask where Edmund was and if he was apart of this world as well, but had a feeling that would only upset Derek. After all, it was Derek that came to her rescue, not Edmund. A throbbing pain pierced her heart. Was Edmund the one that put her here in the first place? After all, he was the last person she saw before she fainted. But Edmund would not put her life in danger by locking her in a dragon-guarded tower, would he?

"Hey, are you alright?" Derek turned his head noticing Aria's upset expression.

Aria pulled her thoughts back to reality, or at least what she thought was reality. "Yeah, its just that…"

"Don't worry. I think the dragon is on the other side of the castle. If we're quick, maybe we can escape to where Adora and Vanessa are without it noticing us." Derek then grabbed Aria hand and asked, "Are you ready?"

Putting her thoughts of Edmund to the back of her mind, Aria nodded. "Let's go."

Derek and Aria moved quickly but quietly towards the gates. Unfortunately, the dragon was still able to spot them. It let out a fiery flame right in their direction.

"Get down!" Derek threw himself over Aria, shielding her, as they fell to the ground.

Aria could feel her entire body shuddering with anxiety. Never in her life had she been this terrified of anything or even conceived of this possible fear. She would much rather be giving an impromptu speech in front of the whole school right now, her former greatest fear before now.

"Aria," Derek instructed as he helped her up. "Run to gates as fast as you can. Adora and Vanessa are there waiting. I'll stay and try to slay the dragon."

Aria began to shake her head. This was utterly insane. She knew under no circumstances she could just leave Derek here to fight this beast alone. Unfortunately, she had no idea what she could do to help.

Derek nudged her shoulder and urged on, "Go, Aria! Trust me. It would be better if you get away while you can. I will be fine."

Still, hesitant, Aria started to move towards the gates, her head constantly turning back. When she looked over her shoulder, she was fossilized to see that the dragon's fire had caused Derek to stumble completely over. The sword fell from his hand, landing closer to her than the dragon.

Aria ran to pick up the fallen weapon. The moment her hand touched it, the sword began to glow a shining silver light. Startled, Aria dropped it and backed away as though it had burned her.

Derek lifted his head up and shouted, "Aria, it's okay. The sword is supposed to do that!"

_This is way too weird, _Aria thought in dismay. Her doubts of these events even being reality resurfaced. Her eyes moved to the dragon. If this were indeed a dream, Aria knew she could not be harmed. If this scene was indeed reality then Derek could die at this very moment. Either scenario led to the same action. When she saw the dragon open its mouth to let out more flames, Aria, once again, grabbed the magic sword. As she held it, she felt this unnatural boldness rise up within her. Something in her brain that did not seem like her own thoughts told her she could do this. She thrust her ignited weapon at the dragon, stabbing its heart. The dragon, slain, fell to the ground letting out one final breath of smoke.

Aria then rushed over to where Derek had fallen. "Derek! Are you alright?"

"Yeah, it just burnt my arm a little. No big deal," Derek replied sitting up. Then he looked over at the dragon's lifeless body. "Wow, Aria, you did it! You actually slew the dragon!"

"I guess it was a lucky shot," Aria panted as she helped Derek up.

She even surprised herself. Normally in gym, her aim was dreadful. She could not even make a basketball goal standing right in front of it. Perhaps the sword's glowing had something to do with it.

"We should probably get that before we go." Derek pointed to the sword still in the dragon, silver blood oozing out.

Aria took a step away. "I cannot go near it. Blood freaks me out."

Derek looked at her in exasperation. "Seriously? You just killed a dragon and now you are afraid of a little blood?"

Aria just nodded not quite sure how to defend her logic.

"Girls," Derek muttered as he rolled his eyes and went to get the sword.

Aria noticed that now when Derek held the sword, it appeared normal. "Why does that sword sometimes glow?"

Derek shrugged. "I don't know. It glowed when Adora and that wizard guy held it, but not for Vanessa and me. Maybe you have to be born in this world for it to work."

"But I wasn't born here." Aria's mind grew fogged yet again. "I couldn't have been."

Derek just sighed. "According to the fairy lady, you were."

"Ms. Fleming, I mean Adora?" Aria then remembered something, her original theory. "Did she say anything about being my real mother?"

Derek looked at her curiously as they walked to the gates and replied, "No, I don't think so. She said your parents are the king and queen of this place. I guess that makes you a Princess."

Aria placed her hand on her forehead as the two began to move towards the gates. "So I suppose I really am Sleeping Beauty?"

Derek nodded. "Apparently so. Though, things really aren't happening exactly like in the story. That witch that wants to kills you is probably still out there, unfortunately. Hopefully, your fairy neighbor will know how to deal her."

As Derek and Aria approached the gates, they found Adora unconscious. Above her, was a note nailed the gate. Aria ran over to her, her eyes scanning her surroundings in desperation.

"Where's Vanessa?" Aria exclaimed in a panic. "You said she was here too!"

"Aria, you might want to take a look at this." Derek tore the note off the gate and passed it to Aria.

_Princess Aria, _

_I have your friend. If you want to see her again, then I suggest you come to my tower, alone._

_Myrtle_

_P.S. You might remember me as Ms. Malone._


	16. Chapter 15 The Truth About Aria

_Chapter 15_

_The Truth About Aria_

"Ms. Fleming! Ms. Fleming, wake up!" Aria viciously shook her body and stammered her name, her breath and heartbeat racing one another.

"Aria," Adora opened her eyes and beamed at the princess kneeling above her. "You are okay!"

"Yeah, I am but Vanessa is not." Aria thrashed the note in front of her neighbor's eyes.

"Oh dear," Adora gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. "We will have to go get help from Galatia. There is no way you can go alone as the note demands. Myrtle is just too dangerous."

"But the note says if I want to save Vanessa, then I have to come alone," Aria protested, frantically running her fingers through her hair. "What if Ms. Malone, I mean Myrtle does something to hurt her? I cannot even…"

As she rose to her feet, Adora held up her hand and stated firmly, "If you go by yourself, you would have fallen right into Myrtle's trap. Who knows what she will do to you then. We must go to the kingdom to get help. That is Vanessa's only chance now.

Aria's mind was too occupied with playing scenes of what to possibly happen to her best friend while with Myrtle to even listen to Adora. "We don not have time for that! Something could happen even before we get to Gal… whatever its called."

"What if I went with her for backup?" Derek suggested. "I can hide so Myrtle doesn't see me and then take her by surprise or something like that."

Adora shook her head and sighed. "No. You both are just teenagers. I will not allow for you to go up against the most dangerous witch in Galatia alone."

"We did just slay a dragon," Derek reminded her.

"Trust me. That's nothing compared to what fighting Myrtle will be like," Adora cautioned. "No more debate. As long as Aria is in my care, I will not allow for her to put her life in danger. Now, I want you two to follow me." The fairy's eyes then fell upon Aria's concerned face. "Don't worry. I promise you we will save Vanessa. All we need is a strong enough force to take on Myrtle. Once I find my sister fairies, we will find a way."

Aria groaned, but realized she had no choice but to follow, as she had no idea how to even find Myrtle's lair. She still found it difficult to wrap her mind around this mysterious world she awoke in, yet somehow, by the way she could feel her body being wide awake, Aria knew this was not a dream.

As she and Derek followed Adora, Aria looked on to her old neighbor in a whole new feature. A vast number of questions ran through her mind. Aria had no idea where to even begin.

Aria picked up her pace so she could walk beside Adora, and started with, "Your sisters you mentioned a second ago, are they the sisters you would always visit when you went away?"

"Yes," Adora sighed out as she nodded. "Oh Aria, I know this must all be overwhelming to you."

_ Overwhelming seems like an understatement, _Aria thought to herself.

"I am sorry I never told you about any of this," Adora continued. "I thought it would be better in order to protect you and let you live a relatively normal life. I am sure you have a lot of questions. What do you last remember before you woke up here?"

Aria gazed down towards her feet as she reflected, "I was with Edmund at his house…" As thoughts of the one person she thought was her boyfriend once again returned, Aria could no longer bear not knowing. "Where is Edmund? Why was he not the one to rescue me?"

Adora opened her mouth, but Derek's annoyed words beat hers. "You would ask about him first."

Aria turned her head back and shot him a glance. "What is that suppose to mean?"

"Well, he was the first thing that came to your mind after I kissed you," Derek reminded her, his tone full of bitterness.

"That is because he was the last person I remember seeing before all this!" Aria retorted, her cheeks beginning to burn.

Derek raised his brow. "And it does not cross your mind that it may because of him you are here in the first place? Instead you believe that he should have been the one to rescue you!"

"Myrtle was the one that did this to me, not Edmund!" Aria snapped, her mind still cowering away from the truth. "Maybe he was just under her spell or something, and that was why he did what he did."

"Fine," Derek snapped. "Believe whatever delusions you want about your perfect _Prince _Edmund! I guess compared to him, I am just not good enough for you."

"Excuse me, but Edmund was the first guy to actually act like a gentleman around me!" Aria flamed up even more as began to remember exactly why she used to hate Derek. "You actually expect me to think you're the one for me instead of Edmund after the way you treated me all these years? You've tormented me ever since we met in elementary school!"

Derek rolled his eyes and let out a huff. "Here we go again with the tormenting thing. That's exactly what Vanessa said. Why don't you two go and start an 'I hate Derek' club?"

"You know what? Maybe we will!" Aria fired back.

"That is quite enough, you two!" Adora shouted furiously, turning around and held up her hand. "This is no way for true loves to talk with one another."

Aria starred at her bewildered. "True love?"

"Yeah, true loves don't say someone else's name after their supposed loved one kisses them," Derek muttered under his breath.

"Enough about Edmund!" Adora continued. "You two both need to just forget about him. The Edmund you knew is not even real. He is simply part of Myrtle's plot, nothing more."

"What do you mean?" Aria demanded, desperately.

"Oh, darling, there is a lot I need to explain to you." She gave Derek a sharp look. "And I don't want any more interruptions."

Derek groaned as he began to slow his pace and mumbled, "I have heard enough about Edmund anyway."

The moment, Derek was out of earshot, Aria turned to Adora and proclaimed in an upset tone, "Look, if you could just see what it is like in high school and how Derek treats me compared to Edmund, you would see where I am coming from. He…"

"Shh," Adora hushed in a soothing tone, as she began to calmly explain, "Aria, you have to understand, what you felt for Edmund was not real. It never was. It was all part of the magic Myrtle used on him to make him seem so charming in order to draw you in. Now that he has served his purpose the charm has worn off. Think about him, Aria. I bet your feelings for Edmund are already fading."

Aria drew in a sharp breath as she realized Adora was right. Now when she thought of him, Edmund seemed like a distant dream. She could no longer say she loved him.

Aria briefly put her hand to her head and asked softly, "Who is he really?"

"Edmund, actually just Ed, works for Myrtle. He is her most devoted minion," Adora explained to Aria. "She sent him to your world to lure you to the spinning wheel."

So it was true. Edmund was responsible for her getting locked in a castle guarded by a dragon. Aria felt as though a knife pierced her heart, even though her emotions for him were not real. To her, it still seemed as though an opportunity for love and happiness had been snatched away.

To prevent more feelings of distress, Aria decided to change the subject from Edmund. There is still much for her to learn. "According to this note, Myrtle is actually Ms. Malone, our English substitute, but she only was there for a day. Why would she come to my school for only a day?"

"I am sure she just wanted to locate you," Adora rationalized. "I honestly cannot picture Myrtle wanting to hang around with a bunch of teenagers."

Aria remembered the conversation she had with Ms. Malone, or Myrtle. "I guess it was my birthday celebration she told me she didn't get invited to. I actually felt sorry for her at the time because I know what it feels like to be left out." Aria paused and then asked, "Why didn't Myrtle get invited like the other fairies did?"

"Oh, sweetie," the fairy sighed, giving Aria a sympathetic look. "Myrtle is quite well known for her mind tricks. She did not first become evil when your parents did not invite her to your celebration. She began practicing dark magic long before."

"Do you think she still would have tried to kill me if she did receive an invitation?" Aria asked, her eyes moving to the ground.

Adora paused for a moment as she considered. "Well, perhaps Myrtle may not have given you death had she invited, but still, I assure you, she would not have given you a very pleasant gift."

"Was your gift the one that saved my life?" Aria recalled the fairy tale story.

"Yes, dear. It was," Adora replied in a soft tone.

They were silent for a moment while Aria absorbed all this. She then asked, "So what were you planning on giving me before Myrtle interfered, Adora?"

Adora smiled at the memory. "Well, I wanted to give you intelligence, but according to Verna, the head fairy, that was not appropriate for a princess. I told her I was going to give you the gift of sewing, but I secretly planned to give you intelligence anyway."

"Intelligence," Aria repeated as she thought about her struggles in academics. "That would have really helped me out in school. So what did Verna give me?"

"Her gift was the gift of poise," Adora replied rolling her eyes.

"Poise?" Aria could not help but laugh. "That is kind of lame."

"My thoughts exactly." Adora grinned and continued, "You have Freya to thank for your beauty."

"Beauty?" Aria never thought of herself as beautiful, though that was because she would always compare herself to the other girls in school.

"Yes, she made it so your hair would always be long and golden and your skin fair."

"So she is the reason I can not get a tan or even cut my hair," Aria grumbled.

"Precisely," Adora answered. "Your poor parents were quite shocked when you were little and they took you to get your hair cut. It immediately grew back overnight. I had no choice but to tell them the truth about you."

"So they knew this whole time," Aria concluded. "I guess that explains their behavior on my sixteenth birthday. They were originally planning to keep me home from school."

Adora sighed. "That may have helped, but I have a feeling Myrtle would have still found a way to get to you."

"It seems like you were the fairy with the good gift.," Aria commented, grinning at her neighbor. "Too bad you had to go last."

"Yes, too bad," Adora laughed. "Though Thelma's gift was not too bad. She was the one who gave you the gift of music."

Aria smiled. "I do like playing the flute, even though it is not exactly _cool _being in Band."

Adora nodded with approval. "Good. Thelma will be glad to hear that. She loves music. She did have to make it so it would attract a suitable man in order to satisfy Verna."

Aria could not help but chuckle at that. "I don't think that really works in high school. No guy wants to date a band geek."

"I think you would be surprised," Adora smiled as she looked back at Derek.

Aria had forgotten he was behind them. When she looked back at Derek she remembered their fight and how furious she was with him.

She then turned her head back to the fairy. "Adora?"

"Yes, Aria?"

Aria took in a breath before asking, "Did your spell really specify that it had to be true love's kiss to awaken me?"

Adora beamed. "It sure did."

Aria let out a huff "Are you sure? I mean you should see what he's like in school. He is always…"

"Well, love does work quite differently you your world than it does here," Adora interrupted before she could finish, "but I can tell he really does care for you. After all, he did risk his life to save you."

A wave of guilt harshly hit up against Aria, as she realized exactly what Derek went through to get to her. He could have died trying to get past the dragon, but despite the risk, he still came for her. Aria felt even more ashamed for constantly asking of Edmund rather than showing any gratitude. No wonder Derek was upset with her.

Aria sighed and told Adora, "I guess I should probably talk to him."

The fairy gave her a satisfied smile. "That is probably a good idea, dear. I need to think of a way to contact my sisters with magic since I have never tried on my own before. Just make sure you two keep following me."

Aria nodded as she hung back to walk with Derek.

As Derek walked up to her he asked, "So did figure out what you wanted to know about your boyfriend?"

"Edmund is not my boyfriend," Aria stated firmly, starring straight ahead, darkly.

"That is not what it sounded like a second ago," Derek grumbled.

"My feelings for him were not real," Aria told him, trying to keep her tone steady. "The only reason I ever thought I loved him was because of some sort of charm Myrtle used on him."

Derek briefly glanced at her. "Is that the excuse you are going to go with?"

"It is not an excuse," Aria insisted. "That is exactly what Adora told me and she is right. I don't even feel anything at all for Edmund now."

"Whatever."

Aria thought desperately for something to say next. She really wanted to make everything right with Derek. For some reason she could not explain at the moment, she could not have him angry with her.

Aria exchanged an awkward glace between Derek and her feet as she said, "Look, I never got a chance to thank you for, you know, saving my life."

Derek shrugged. "Don't mention it. Besides, you saved mine too so we're even."

His anger seemed dissolved yet Aria still was not satisfied with his response. "Why did you save me? I remember in English you said you would never risk your life for a woman. What changed your mind or do you just think I am hot?"

Derek laughed remembering that English class when he said that day. "To tell you the truth, I am not really sure. I guess… I don't know. When I thought of you up there all alone, something changed. I can't really explain…" His voice drifted off for a moment before he recalled, "Hey, I remember you also said you would never risk your life for someone else either yet I could not get you to run away when I was trying to fight the dragon."

_He does have a point, _Aria thought to herself. "I suppose nobody really what they would do in a situation until they are actually in it. I guess I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I just ran and left you alone with that dragon."

"Yeah, about that, when we get back to Norfolk do you think we can tell people I killed the dragon?" Derek asked jokingly.

Aria grinned and replied, "When we get back you can tell people whatever you want. I'll be sure to visit you in whatever mental institution you get put in."

They both laughed and continued to follow Adora. After several minutes passed, Derek's hand flew to his arm as he let out a gasp.

"Are you alright?" Aria asked, looking at him with concern.

"Its nothing." Derek shook his head and muttered, "Just where the dragon burned me. I'm sure it will stop in a minute."

Aria took a look at his arm and exclaimed, "Derek, it looks twice as big as it did before!" She then called, "Adora! Please come over here."

"Did you two finally work things out…?" She let out a horrified gasp once her eyes fell to his burn. "Oh, Derek, you didn't tell me the dragon burned you."

"I did not think it was a big deal," Derek replied, still grasping his arm.

Adora shook her head urgently. "Dragon burns must be treated immediately or they will just keep growing and eventually be fatal!"

"What do we do?" Aria demanded, her eyes moving back and forth between Adora and Derek.

Adora responded, "We will have to go back to Greg's so he can treat it."

Not even bothering to ask who Greg was, Aria nodded and took Derek's other arm. The three made their way back to the wizard's cottage, arriving in short time. Luckily for Derek, Greg was able to treat him with a simple potion.

Greg and Adora stood in the kitchen discussing how they planned to deal with Myrtle, while Aria sat by Derek, developing her own plan. She looked over at Derek asleep on the couch from the medicine and smiled. She felt truly glad to see that he would be okay. Aria just wondered if the same would go for her.

Aria gulped, her stomach sinking down as she thought of what she must do next. The thought of going to this evil witch alone petrified her, but she then realized that her best friend was probably feeling this exact same fear at this very moment. That thought disturbed Aria even more.

Rising to her feet, Aria's shaking hands picked up the sword, which was lying in front of the couch. She looked down to Derek who remained in deep slumber. As she walked beside him, Aria gently kissed his forehead and whispered goodbye.


	17. Chapter 16 The Friendship Element

_Chapter 16_

_The Friendship Element_

One miniscule square window towards the top of the room in the tower was the only visible opening to the outside world. The sunlight shining through told Vanessa it was sometime during the day. She stood against the wall, her hands bound in chains for hours it seemed.

At the sound of footsteps, Vanessa turned her head. Moments later, the door opened and Ms. Malone, who she now knew as Myrtle, appeared.

"Well, it seems as though your friends managed to defeat my dragon," she spoke casually, pacing gradually closer to Vanessa.

"You mean Aria is okay… she woke up?" Vanessa demanded as her hands made another pointless jiggle in the chains.

"Yes," Myrtle sighed in a bored tone. "As usual, true love's kiss saves the day."

_Well, at least Aria is okay,_ Vanessa thought to herself, as her breathing grew heavier. _That's more than I can say for me right now._

Myrtle, seemingly reading her mind smirked. "I bet you are wondering what happens next."

"Are you going to kill me?" Vanessa asked softly, attempting to meet the witch's eyes.

Myrtle merely let out a soft chuckle. "If I wanted to kill you, Miss Cooper, I would have done so by now."

"Then why are you keeping me here?" she demanded more boldly, lifting her head up higher.

"Honestly, more out of curiosity than anything else." As Myrtle caught sight of Vanessa's puzzled expression, she clarified, "You see, Miss Cooper, in this world true love plays a strong role. It is almost always strong enough to make someone willing to risk their lives to rescue their loved one. Around here, that is quite common. The princesses always has true loves, willing to do just about anything to save her."

As she spoke, Myrtle strolled casually about the room, but then came to a dead stop to look into Vanessa's eyes, and added, "But you, young Miss Cooper, bring in a whole new element to this story."

"And what might that be?" Vanessa asked, nervously.

"Friendship," Myrtle answered simply, resuming her casual pacing. "You see, as I mentioned, the princess always has a true love, but nothing much is mentioned about her friends. I am curious to see just how strong your friendship is with Princess Aria. Does it hold the same strength? The fact that you came here for her shows that it is relatively strong. Now, we will just have to see if that friendship power goes the other way around."

"You want to see if she will come here for me," Vanessa concluded in a voice barely above a whisper.

Myrtle let out a pretense doleful sigh. "Feelings of true love do emerge stronger and more rapidly here I have noticed. It is possible Aria and Derek will go on to live happily ever after."

Vanessa took in a nerve filled breath before asking, "What is going to happen to me if Aria does not come?"

The witch shrugged. "Well, seeing that your true love is likely someone in the other world who has no idea where you are now, Aria is probably your only hope for rescue." She shot Vanessa a vile smirk. "I suppose if she does not come then I will win somewhat after all."

xXx

Firmly gripping the magic sword, Aria took in a deep breath as she approached Myrtle's tower. She had no idea how she was able to locate this lair without much difficultly. It must be something about this world. Aria did not waste much time pondering on this. Right now, her main focus was getting her best friend out of this place unharmed.

As she tiptoed down the dim lighted hall, Aria wondered how evil Myrtle really is or how people even became villainous in this world. Are they just born that way? According to Adora, Myrtle had been evil long before her birthday celebration, but she never mentioned how or what exactly changed her. Once upon a time, Myrtle was a gift-giving fairy. Now, she has transformed into an evil witch obsessed with revenge. The idea of a person changing in that extreme baffled Aria.

Aria's mind then turned back to the real reason she came, to rescue Vanessa. Her plan seemed quite simple played out in her mind; find Vanessa and get out of here alive. Unfortunately, Aria had a feeling it would be much more challenging than that with Myrtle.

Moving forward with caution, she thought how easy the princess had it in the fairy tale story of _Sleeping Beauty_. All she had to do was sleep and get rescued. Once the prince kissed her and she awoke, all her problems were solved. Both the dragon and witch were already defeated and she lived happily ever after with her prince. Aria, on the other hand, had to deal with the dragon and now the witch, and honestly, she had absolutely no idea what will happen between her and Derek. Just a couple hours ago, the thought of him boiled her blood and now suddenly she developed these new feelings for him. Perhaps they were buried deep down within her mind all along.

Aria approached a wooden door at the end of the hall. She thought she heard the sound of chains rattling. Thinking it may be Vanessa, Aria took in a deep breath and opened the door only to find no one there. The room seemed bare and dark with just one small window towards the top.

The door she came through made a sudden slam shut. Aria whirled around in startle, her breath growing rapid.

"Why hello there, Princess," a familiar voice came from the corner of the room. "Glad to see you have awakened."

Slowly, Aria turned her head to see Edmund wearing the same charming smile he used to first lure her in. Only this time, that smile did not have the same effect. Aria found that what Adora said indeed turned out to be true. As she looked upon the man she once claimed to love, Aria could honestly say now that she felt nothing for him.

"Where is Vanessa?" Aria demanded through gritted teeth, trying to conceal her fear.

"I would have thought you would be pleased to be reunited with the man you once claimed to love," Myrtle's deadly tone coolly breezed in from behind the shadows.

Aria turned her head to her other side to find herself face to face with the witch who cursed her as an infant. She stood with the same long wavy dark hair and smooth white pearl skin Aria remembered back when she thought of her as Ms. Malone.

"It was not real," Aria muttered simply.

"Too right you are," Myrtle sneered as she casually stroked her fingers along a candlestick hanging on the wall. "Now, what I am curious of is why you are not currently enjoying your happily ever after with your true love."

Aria gaped at her in disbelief. "You still have my friend. How can I enjoy my happily ever after, or whatever, knowing that Vanessa is trapped here with you?"

The witch shot her a curious look. "Is she really that important to you?"

"Yes," Aria answered, gripping the sword more firmly. "Now, where is she?"

"No need to get boisterous." Myrtle let out a sly grin as she grabbed hold of the candlestick she had her fingers on. "I made sure to keep her close by."

She pulled downward on that candlestick, her body still facing the princess. At that moment, a potion of the wall began to revolve, revealing Vanessa to be on the other side in chains.

"Aria!" Vanessa eyes lit as they fell upon her best friend though her tone sounded conflicted as she shot the witch a nervous glance and uttered, "You came."

"Of course," Aria panted as she began to approach her.

Myrtle, however, blocked her path and raised her wand, prepared for attack.

"Please," Aria begged in desperation. "I came alone just like you asked. Just let her go. I am the one you want revenge on."

As the words escaped Aria's mouth she did not feel nearly as brave as she attempted to sound. The last thing she desired was to be trapped alone in Myrtle's territory with just the witch and Edmund for company. However, as it appears, this evil fairy will accommodate her no matter what. If Myrtle agrees, at least Vanessa would be safe.

Myrtle briefly glanced at Vanessa, who furiously shook her head, and responded, "I think it would be more entertaining for me if she were to stay and watch what happens to you next."

Aria took a nervous step back, but demanded, "Are you really going to kill me just because my parents did not invite you to my birthday celebration. Do you know how many parties I have never been invited to? Not once did it ever cross my mind to actually kill someone over it."

To add even to Aria's shock, Myrtle began to laugh. "There is quite a simple explanation for that, Princess."

Aria drew in a sharp breath. "And what would that be?"

Myrtle stepped closer to her with a deadly grin. "I am evil."

"That's it?" Aria asked, slightly thrown off by the blunt response.

The witch held her evil sneer. "That is it. You see, Princess, in this world good and evil appears more black and white than your world portrays."

"You just suddenly decided to flip the switch and turn bad," Aria uttered quietly, "without a second thought?"

Myrtle simply shrugged. "What can I say, evil is more fun. You should try it sometime. I bet there is someone in your world you would enjoy taking revenge on."

Trying to force the scene of Kendal sticking gum on her hair to the back of her mind, Aria shook her head. "No, I am not that kind of person, Myrtle."

Myrtle raised her wand higher. "Suit yourself."

With a wave of her wand, Myrtle shot out a lightning beam strait towards Aria. Luckily, Aria was able to block it with her sword. The very moment the lightning made contact with the sword, it simply dissolved. The princess looked down at the sword she grasped, her eyes widened. She had no idea it would be this durable against a fairy's wand. It appeared Greg's magic was stronger than Mrytle's.

The witch, on the other hand, appeared much less surprised as she dully looked over to her accomplice and tilted it towards Aria. "Ed, retrieve that sword."

Ed lunged at Aria, but with her reflexes acting sharper than usual, she quickly dodged out of his path causing him to clumsily slam into wall knocking himself unconscious.

Myrtle rolled her eyes. "Well, so much for that. It looks as though I will be taking you on myself."

Aria gulped but maintained a firm grasp on her weapon. Myrtle, her fiery eyes lighted up, threw everything she could at her opponent, while Vanessa's eyes widened in fright. All the lightning, beams, and flames proved, however, ineffective against the forged sword. The battle continued on for nearly half an hour before, Aria finally managed to redirect one of the witch's light beams directly at her, causing her body to slam against the wall. Before Myrtle had the chance to reclaim her fallen wand, Aria pointed the sword directly at her chest.

The wicked fairy did not show any fear, meeting Aria with her daring eyes. "What are you going to do now, Princess, kill me?"

Aria paused, her mind unprepared for this moment, but then shook her head. "No. As I just said, I am not like you, Myrtle. I will not murder someone just for the sake of revenge."

Myrtle tilted her chin up. "Well said. So what are you going to do then?"

Keeping the sword in its position, Aria bent over, hastily, grabbing the wand. "I want you to leave this kingdom and never return."

"Is that an order, Your Highness?" Myrtle challenged with slight sneer.

"Yes," Aria stated darkly, refusing to lower her weapon.

"Very well," Myrtle consented. "As you command."

At that moment Myrtle vanished, dust hovering above where she last stood. Aria suddenly had this sunken feeling informing her that this may not be entirely over, but at this moment she did not take up much time to dwell on this.

"Aria, are you okay?" Vanessa demanded in worry as she rattled her chains.

"Yeah." Aria held up her arms and shrugged. "She didn't hit me at all."

"I can't believe you actually came all by yourself," Vanessa commented in a slightly dazed tone."

"Of course." Aria walked over to her, still holding the sword. "You are my best friend. Did you actually think I would not come?"

Vanessa sighed, looking downward. "I don't know. Its just something Myrtle said about how true love in this world pretty much outweighs everything else."

"Well, I did not grow up in this world," Aria stated firmly, as she began to raise the sword. "Now, let me get you free so we can leave this place."

Vanessa beamed at her best friend, but that smile soon transformed to panic as Aria raised the sword higher. "Aria, wait! What are you doing?"

"I am going to cut the chains loose," Aria replied simply, and then let out an understanding smile. "I know my aim usually sucks, but I did just throw this sword right through the dragon's heart on the first try so it might be better here."

"Yeah…" Vanessa pointed her fingers to Aria's right side. "But just to be safe maybe instead try the key over on that table against the wall."

"Right." Aria turned her head in that direction. "That is probably a better idea."

Aria went over to grab the key and immediately set her friend free. The next moment, the two girls embraced one another tightly. They did not let go until they heard a stumble from the side of the room. Aria turned her head, just remembering that Edmund was still there.

Rubbing his head, Edmund looked at them and asked Aria, "Did you defeat Myrtle?"

"Yes," Aria answered, trying not to stutter. "I banished her from this kingdom, and for helping her you are banished as well."

Edmund only smiled at her, winked and then bowed stating, "As you wish, my princess."

Instead of making an immediate departure, he continued to bow.

_What is he doing,_ Aria thought, _trying to charm his way out of this? _

"Yeah okay, go," Aria commanded as she rolled her eyes.

"Do I have to go where Myrtle went?" Edmund asked.

"I don't care," Aria replied, uncertainly. "Just leave the kingdom."

As the door shut behind him, Vanessa pointed her eyes in that direction. "Um, Aria, don't you think you let them off a little too easy?"

Aria sighed, knowing she was probably right but said, "I could not think of anything else. What was I suppose to do, kill them?"

"Well, Myrtle did try to kill you," Vanessa reminded her.

Aria briefly put her hand to her head. "Yeah, but I don't know. It just felt like if I killed her I would be sinking to her level or something. Also, the thought of actually killing someone kind of makes me shudder."

Vanessa gave her a sympathetic smile. "Yeah, I guess I know what you mean." Her eyes then moved to the ground, spotting something. "Hey, what are we going to do with Myrtle's wand?"

Aria picked it up and looked down at it. "I don't know. I guess keep it as a souvenir."

Vanessa starred at, awed. "I wonder what all it can do." Her eyes then sparked with an idea. "Maybe you can try to use it to put warts all over Kendal's face. That would get her back for the whole gum thing."

Aria did let out a brief chuckle but asked, "Do you remember anything I said about not wanting to sink to Myrtle's level?"

"Yeah, I guess you should not do that," Vanessa agreed, but then held out her hand. "I'll do it."

As much temptation as she felt, Aria shook her head. "No, I really don't think we should mess around with this."

"Oh come on," Vanessa pleaded as the two began to make their way towards the exit. "We have to try it out on something. Maybe we can use it for homework, or I know! Maybe there is some kind of spell that would make me smarter. I would love to see the look on Walter's face if I know the answer to a question he didn't."

"I think he would know something's up," Aria muttered, jestingly. As Vanessa turned to give her that _hey_ look, she added, "Well, you didn't believe me when I said I through the sword right through that dragon's heart."

"I never said that," Vanessa protested with a grin. "Its just you have to admit that is pretty difficult to picture. I mean, I have watched you try to toss a crumpled up piece of paper in a trashcan right in front of you and still miss."

"Well, it did happen," Aria insisted, as they walked into the outdoors. "Just ask Derek."

"Whatever you say," Vanessa mumbled and then looked at her friend curiously. "Speaking of Derek, what is going to happen between you and him? I mean, obviously his kiss worked. Does that mean he is your true love or whatever?"

Aria let out an exasperated sigh. "Honestly, I have no idea what will happen. This really is not as simple as it is in the fairy tale."

As the girls continued on back to the wizard's cottage, Aria's mind kept trying to process everything that just happened. What her best friend said was indeed true. Adora's spell made it so that true love's kiss would awaken her. Even so, Aria was not sure she was ready to admit she loved Derek, not yet at least. One thing she could be certain of now, she no longer hated him.

_A/N: Well, I originally just planned on adding that one scene at the beginning but ended up re-writing the entire chapter and made it twice as long. I think this turned out much better than the original but maybe that's just me. Anyway, I just want to thank everyone who has been reviewing. I really enjoy reading all your comments! I hope you enjoy the rest. For those who have already read the original, I don't think much more is going to change in the last two chapters, but feel free to read them again if you want. _


	18. Chapter 17 Long Lost Princess Returns

_Chapter 17_

_Long Lost Princess Returns_

"So you've slain the dragon, rescued me, and defeated the witch," Vanessa reviewed as the two strolled along the dirt path side by side. "Now, we do we go from here?"

"I guess we'll head back to Greg's cottage and see how Derek is doing?" Aria replied in a vast tone.

Vanessa turned her head and eyeballed her friend. "You know that is not what I meant." She paused to take in a breath before asking, "Does all this mean you will have to live here from now on?"

Aria let out a drawn out exhale. This just happened to be the very question she wished to avoid. Sure, she use to dream of being a princess when she was a little girl, but now, Aria could not stand the thought of never seeing her family or friends again. This kind of transition was just too much for her to grasp at the moment.

"I guess I will have to talk to Adora about it," Aria replied softly, keeping her gaze straight ahead.

Vanessa gave her an understanding nod and decided best change the subject. "Hey, I just thought of something. We know about another dimension."

Aria turned to give her best friend a curious glance. "Yeah, so…?"

"So," Vanessa continued, clapping her hands together gleefully, "that means we know something Walter doesn't know! I never thought I would be able to say that."

Aria laughed. "That's true. Alternate dimensions were on his list of things he does not know, weren't they? It is too bad we will probably never be able to tell him."

"Yeah," Vanessa agreed, letting out a brief huff. "He would think we have both gone insane. Remember, he thought I was nuts for believing in psychics." She held her finger up to her chin. "Speaking of which, I wonder if there are any fortune tellers in this world?"

Aria shrugged. "Considering there's magic, dragons, and portals between worlds, that would not surprise me."

The girls continued to discuss the wonders of this new world for the rest of their journey. When they arrived an anxious Adora came out from inside.

"Aria, do you have any idea how worried I've been?" The fairy fumed, waving her arms up in the air. "What were you thinking, going up against the most dangerous witch in these lands?"

"I won," Aria protested weakly, just slightly shrugging her shoulders. "This sword Greg made kept Myrtle's magic from harming me."

Adora's eyes fixated on the unharmed princess until several moments passed and then sighed. "Very well then. Did you, um… manage to finish her off for good?"

"Do you mean kill her?" Aria asked, slowly, and when Adora nodded, she shook her head. "No, I just banished her from the kingdom."

Adora let out a heavy breath as she shook her head. "Oh, Aria darling. That will not be good enough. As long as Myrtle has her powers, she will keep coming back for you."

"She doesn't have her powers anymore," Aria added quickly. "During the fight, she dropped her wand and it… uh, broke."

Aria could feel her heart pound will greater thud as she spoke that last sentence. She honestly had no idea why she just lied to Adora about keeping Myrtle's wand. There was just so much about her recent encounter with the witch that drove Aria's curiosity. Myrtle claimed she wanted revenge, but from Aria's perspective, she came across as rather aloof, not particularly caring whether or not she even won. Something about the way she claimed to be evil for the sake of it did not make sense. There has to be a reason. Aria wondered if perhaps the wand might conceal an answer.

Adora gave her a brief sharp look, but then let out a relieved sigh. "Very well, then as far as the kingdom is concerned the evil witch has been defeated." She beamed at the princess. "You are quite brave, Aria. Probably the bravest princess I have ever met and that was not even one of your gifts."

Aria's head tilted downward as she felt her cheeks begin to blush. "Thanks."

Aria then felt a peculiar emotion breeze against her body and looked to the fairy with concern. "How is Derek? Has he recovered completely yet?"

Adora beamed and nodded. "Yes, and I am sure he will be quite relieved to see you are okay. He is just in the other room."

As the two girls followed Adora into the wizard's living room, Aria was relieved to see a conscious, smiling Derek sitting upright on the couch waiting for them. At that moment another emotion rose up within her, something unfamiliar. As she continued to gaze on to her fellow classmate, who recently rescued her, that feeling grew even more intense.

"So, how did it go?" Derek asked, as he rose to his feet. "Did you win?"

Instead of answering him, Aria found herself rush over to him and throw her arms around his neck. Before she could even think of what she was doing, Aria then proceeded to kiss him passionately for several long passing moments.

Once she snapped out of it, Aria pulled away to find a quite puzzled Derek standing in front of her.

"I, uh…" Unable to think of anything else to say, Aria mumbled, "sorry."

Derek shrugged rather awkwardly and responded, "It's all good."

As Aria took a step back, Adora cautioned, "Be careful, you two. Here in this world feelings of romance and passion are quite intensified."

"Right," Aria muttered as she took another step back, trying to avoid Derek's eyes.

"Wow," Vanessa commented, grinning. "That's all I can say there."

"Yes, normally those feelings would be perfectly acceptable," Adora continued. "After all, it is quite natural for true love to lead into a happily ever after, but considering you two both have lives in the other world, I do not think it will work out quite that smoothly."

Aria drew in a sharp breath as she just became aware of the fact she may have to return to her own world, or what she now referred to as reality. As she thought more of this aspect, she had a sudden panic that once they go back, Derek would recoil to teasing her again and act like none of this ever happened. Aria worried even more that she may have to stay while Derek and Vanessa went home without her. She could not bear to be without her best friend and her, well, she was not exactly sure what Derek was to her at this moment.

"What is going to happen to me now?" Aria asked Adora. "Will I have to stay here permanently?"

As those words left Aria's mouth, Vanessa grabbed her hand and squeezed it. Aria looked across at Derek to see that he, too, wore a concerned expression of this possibility.

Adora let out a sigh. "Let us not worry of this matter at this moment. My sisters and I will discuss your unique situation. For now, we shall focus on the celebration of your return."

xXx

Aria, Vanessa, Derek, and Adora rode in a golden chariot through the gates of the main kingdom where King Richard and Queen Gretel awaited anxiously for their daughter's return. As they entered, the crowds of people went wild as their heroes waved to them.

"I kind of feel like we are steeling your glory," Vanessa muttered into Aria's ear. "After all, you were the one to actually fight and defeat both the dragon and Myrtle. We did not really do anything."

"That's not true," Aria proclaimed. "I would not have been able to do any of that if you and Derek did not come rescue me from the tower." She turned to face her friend and added firmly, "We are all heroes. All three of us showed a tremendous amount of courage in this situation."

Vanessa smiled and the two girls briefly embraced.

As the chariot came to a halt, Aria observed the other three fairies sitting by the king and queen. Based on what Adora told her about them, it was pretty easy to guess who they each were. The one standing up the straightest, properly clapping her hands together was Verna. The blonde one constantly fooling with her hair trying to get the guards' attention was likely Freya, and the one holding the harp with a songbird perched on her shoulder was Thelma. Aria waved and smiled at all three of them and then looked to her birthparents, the king and queen.

King Richard arose, took his wife's hand and together they approached their long lost daughter as she stepped down from the carriage.

"Welcome back, my daughter! Welcome back!" he exclaimed as they embraced.

Aria felt warmth and love from both her parents. Part of her did not want to leave this world, but another part of her knew if she stayed, she would miss Vanessa, her adopted parents who cared for Aria her whole life, and even Derek. She let out a small huff. Fairy tales were not supposed to be this complicated.

Everyone then sat around the table as the king raised his glass for a speech. At that instant, every glass rose and the room went silent.

"For my lovely daughter and her brave knight, Sir Derek," King Richard spoke broadly with a grand beam. "I declare they shall be married in the spring."

Everyone drank to this, even Aria and Derek at first, but when the king's words hit them, they both choked on their drinks while Vanessa covered her mouth to keep from laughing too loud.

"Wait a minute, your highness, I mean Father," Aria coughed several more times before she choked out, "We cannot get married!"

"Well, why not?" Queen Gretel inquired curiously. "He was the one whose kiss revived you, was he not? That makes him your true love. What reason is there not to marry him?"

"I don't …" Aria panted heavily as she had no idea how to respond to this.

Fortunately for her Adora interjected, "Your Majesty, if I may, I must inform you that in the world where your daughter was raised, love works quite differently, much more slowly, actually. Normally, people there date a few years before even considering the idea of marriage. Also, it is quite uncommon for someone of Aria's age to be married."

"How odd," the queen replied, genuinely befuddled by this. "Very well, then. Aria, its up to you when you desire to marry."

"Thank you," Aria breathed out more calmly now, fingering her goblet.

After that brief bombshell, the rest of the feast went by quite smoothly. Aria laughed and talked with both Vanessa and Derek. Everything about this world was absolutely perfect. The people seemed quite content as they laughed and talked of special quest and glorious conquers. Unlike high school, there seemed to be no apparent drama, popularity clicks, or two girls fighting over the one guy. Aria could easily see how people could live happily ever after here, but the question remains now, could she? After several moments of torturing her minds, Aria decided best to enjoy the moment for what it is now and worry about her future another day.

_A/N: Thank you everyone for reading this and a special thanks for Miss Papillon and Pokemonchen for continuously reviewing the last several chapters. I loved both of your comments for the last two chapters. There is still an epilogue which probably won't change that much either and then this story will be complete (again)._

_By the way, which fairy gift would you choose for yourself? Go to my profile and vote on my poll. Thank you all again for reading!_


	19. Epilogue

_Epilogue_

"Aria!" Elizabeth called as the doorbell rang. "Vanessa's here. Are you ready?"

"Almost," Aria answered, standing by the mirror fixing her hair, which had been dyed black by a color rinse. "Could you send her up here, please?"

Tonight, the girls planned to go to Sheerwood High's Halloween dance. A couple weeks ago, it was agreed that Aria would remain in this world to finish high school and visit Galatia during the holidays and sometimes weekends. After that, she will move to the kingdom to begin her training to rule and visit her friends and family in Norfolk on occasion. It seemed like the best solution for her situation.

Vanessa entered Aria's bedroom and asked, "So, what do you think of my fairy costume?"

She looked over to her best friend, dressed in a shimmering light orange gown. Vanessa's cheeks sparkled in glitter and she held a bronzed plastic wand.

"You look absolutely dazzling!" Aria answered.

Vanessa's face fell when she saw what Aria decided to be. "Really, Aria, you're going to be the witch?"

"Technically, I'm an evil fairy," Aria clarified as she tied her choker around her neck. "Besides, I am saving my princess dress for the Homecoming dance. That way I will not have to buy one next month."

Vanessa shook her head. "I still can't believe you took Myrtle's choker."

Aria put her fingers upon the tiny black stone she wore around her neck. "I'm not stealing, I'm just borrowing. Besides, it's not as if she'll be back for it any time soon."

"Are you going to take the wand?" Vanessa asked, eagerly.

Aria looked at her and raised her eyebrow. "Really, you are concerned about me stealing a harmless necklace, but you want me to take some magical device we don't even know how to use."

Vanessa shrugged. "Well, whatever consequences we face from that will be more worth it."

Aria sighed knowing just where this would lead. "Okay, for the one millionth time, we are not using magic to put warts on Kendal's face, or make her hair fall out, or whatever else you suggested."

"How about just one wart?" Vanessa tried, holding her finger up.

"No." Aria then turned around to look at her and asked, "Do you remember in Harry Potter when Ron tried to curse Malfoy to make him spit out slugs, or something gross, but then the spell backfired on him. Well, since we are inexperienced with magic, something like that could happen to you if you try to curse Kendal."

Vanessa let out a huff. "I guess since you put it that way. I don't really want to risk warts popping up all over my face."

Aria let out a relieved sigh the matter was finally dropped even though part of her felt a fraction of her friend's disappointment. This would have been a good way to get Kendal back for the gum incident, but Aria knew she was not that kind of person.

xXx

When the girls arrived to the school's gym, they observed what their classmates decided to be. There were only a handful of actual scary costumes. Most students chose to dress as popular fictional characters, rather skanky devil or angel costume, or the most common, celebrities. Aria noticed Karin Wales wore regular clothes, but the second she noticed her skin was drenched in glitter from head to toe, she could only conclude, _Twilight_ vampire.

"I bet Kendal thinks she's so cool in her Lady Gaga costume," Vanessa commented as the two girls passed her.

"I wonder if she realizes she's probably one of six million girls wearing that same thing on Halloween," Aria added.

"Well, well," Kendal said as she approached them, "What are you suppose to be, some sort of freakish gothic queen?"

Aria tilted her head up, unaffected by her tone. "Actually, I am an evil fairy who curses the people I don't like."

"And I am the good fairy," Vanessa added and then smirked at Kendal. "I only curse those who are very bad."

Kendal returned the smirk and commented, "You're the good fairy? I would have thought that would be the other way around."

As she left to rejoin her girl posse, Vanessa turned to Aria and said, "She definitely hates me more than you. You know, I don't think Kendal has ever really liked me at all."

Aria just let out a heavy breath. "You know that is not true… not that it really even matters now."

"You did seem a lot more confident around her just now," Vanessa pointed out.

Aria let out a small chuckle. "Yeah, I guess finding out you are a princess is a good confidence booster."

"Yeah, but no one here knows that," her best friend reminded her, briefly lifting her eyebrow.

Vanessa's statement was indeed true. As far as her classmates were concerned, Aria was the same average high school girl so even she did not completely understand her sudden change in attitude. Aria supposed that she finally understood that what other students thought of her just really did not matter. Whether she moved to Galatia one day or even stayed in this world, there would be no reason to dwell on these four years. Now, she just wanted to make the best of what she had.

"Hey, look, there's Walter!" Vanessa pointed over by the table with the punch bowl.

As the girls approached him, they saw that their friend, who wore a grayish brown 1800s style suit and hat, with a magnifying glass sticking out of his pocket. Once he saw them, Walter smiled and waved his hand, which held a fake pipe.

"Hey!" Aria greeted first. "So who are you supposed to be?"

"Sherlock Holmes," Walter replied with a grin.

"Nice," Vanessa commented as she briefly scanned him head to toe. "Clever detective. That's like perfect for you."

"Thanks!" He glanced back and forth between the two girls. "So what are you two supposed to be?"

"Good fairy, bad fairy," Vanessa answered as she pointed to her then Aria.

"I see." Walter briefly lifted his eyebrow and grinned. "So Aria is supposed to be the bad fairy?"

"You sounded surprised!" Vanessa accused, placing her hands on her hips.

"No I didn't," Walter protested, while Aria giggled.

"Yes you did," Vanessa insisted as she playfully smacked his arm. "You think I would be better as the bad fairy."

Still laughing, Walter rolled his eyes. "Okay, now you are just putting words into my mouth."

Vanessa folded her arms, apparently trying hard not to laugh. "I can tell what you were thinking."

"Oh, I see. So apparently you can read minds now. Did your psychic teach you that?"

Vanessa rolled her eyes and grabbed his arm. "Oh, just shut up and let's dance."

As Aria watched her friends enter onto the dance floor, she laughed, glad this time their comments remained on a playful jesting level. She then decided to go look for her own dance partner. Since Derek never told her what he planned to dress as, Aria was not entirely sure who or what to look for. Instead, she happened to hear familiar voices.

"I still think it's ironic after that day in English you chose to dress up as Prince Charming of all things," Aria heard Ian saying.

Aria turned her head and saw the two boys chatting on the side of the dance floor. She could only see Derek's backside, but she saw that he wore a red velvet shirt with puffed sleeves with a black cape and sword to complete the look.

"Okay, this is coming from someone dressed as a gladiator," Derek retorted.

"Hey, some may say gladiators' sport evolved into football. In a way I kind of am…" Ian's eyes moved past Derek and he waved. "Hey Aria."

Derek turned around and grinned when he saw her but said, "Well, I thought I would be meeting my princess here, not the evil witch."

"Evil fairy," Aria corrected, as she walked closer to him.

"Well, I guess Aria went even further from what she really is, considering she's not even close to evil," Ian acknowledged.

"It's Halloween. You are supposed to dress as something you are not," Aria pointed out with a shrug.

"That's true and you sure did," Derek laughed, winking at her. He then extended his hand to her. "Well, my evil witch, will you dance with me?"

"Fairy," Aria corrected as she smiled and took Derek's hand and the two began to dance.

Aria still could not believe this was actually happening. At the beginning of the school year, she would have never predicted any of this. Aria could not believe how much everything has changed this year and only in a few months.

As it came to the time for the dance to end, Aria re-located Walter and Vanessa, who were both still laughing and joking around with each other.

When people began collecting their possessions, preparing to leave, Ian announced, "Alright, party at Kendal's. Everyone's invited!"

Annoyed, Kendal grabbed his arm and shook her head.

"No, Ian, not everyone." She shot at hard look in Aria and Vanessa's direction.

Aria just shrugged, for once, not feeling put out by not being invited to one of Kendal's parties. As she thought about it, going home or somewhere else with her own friends seemed to feel more right.

Aria turned to Vanessa and Walter. "Hey guys, how about we go back to my house and have own celebration?"

Vanessa exchanged glances with Walter, who nodded, and shrugged. "Sounds great."

"Hey, do you think you have room for one more?" Derek asked, stepping behind Aria.

Vanessa bit her lip and answered, "I don't know, Derek, we're a pretty exclusive group."

Derek's face fell while Aria giggled. "She's kidding, Derek. Of coarse you can come!"

All four of them laughed as they made their way towards the exit together.

That night turned into one of the best nights of Aria's life. No longer did it seem to matter whether or not she was popular in high school or even have a boyfriend just for the sake of it. The most important thing to Aria was being around the people she cared about and who cared for her in return. She honestly did not know what would happen between her and Derek in the future romantically. Aria did, however, know for sure, that Vanessa, Walter, and now Derek, would be her friends, forever and always. To Aria, that fact unescorted, is what made her know that she will live happily ever after.

_A/N: Thank you all for reading this! A special thanks to Fanofallthings, Pockemochen, Miss Papillon, and all those who have been reviewing. I want you to know I will NOT be doing a redux of the sequel so if you have not read it yet go right ahead. If you see any mistakes please let me know either by PM or review. I will likely re-title this Crossover: Another World since I am leaving the old one up for those who want to compare the two.  
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